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IBM® Watson IoT

Maximo Asset Management 7.5x Releases

Maximo 7.5x Designer 371 Report Development Guide


Version 10

Pam Denny
Maximo Report Designer/Architect
CONTENTS
Revision History vi

1 Overview 7

1.1 Report Types ............................................................................................... 8

2 Installation and Configuration 9

2.1 Download Report Designer ......................................................................... 10

2.2 Configure Report Designer for Maximo........................................................ 11


2.2.1 Prerequisites ............................................................................................ 11

2.3 Update Properties file ................................................................................ 13


2.3.1 Properties File Values ................................................................................ 14
2.3.2 Database username and Password ............................................................. 14

2.4 Access the Report Design Tool .................................................................... 17

2.5 Import Maximo Project ............................................................................... 19

2.6 Common Install and Configuration Issues .................................................... 23

2.7 Using IE 10/11 with BIRT 3.7.1 starting in Maximo Version 7.5.0.8 or higher ..... 25

3 Upgrading to BIRT Report Designer 3.7.1 26

Report Developer Database Access 29

4 Report Design Files 33

4.1 Report File Structure .................................................................................. 35


4.1.1 Delivered Report File Structure .................................................................. 35
4.1.2 birtplatform ............................................................................................. 35
4.1.3 eri ............................................................................................................ 35
4.1.4 Libraries ................................................................................................... 35
4.1.5 Reports .................................................................................................... 36
4.1.6 Script library ............................................................................................. 37
Maximo75x_Designer371_Report Development Guide

4.1.7 Report Templates ..................................................................................... 38


4.1.8 Tools........................................................................................................ 38

4.2 Your Custom Reports and the Report File Structure...................................... 40

5 Developing a report 44

5.1 Specifying the Query .................................................................................. 45

5.2 Creating the Output Columns ..................................................................... 46


5.2.1 Maximo-BIRT Data Mapping ..................................................................... 47
5.2.2 Notes ....................................................................................................... 47

5.3 Updating the Fetch .................................................................................... 48

5.4 Formatting the Report................................................................................ 48


5.4.1 Formatting Notes ..................................................................................... 49

5.5 Defining the Property File ........................................................................... 50


5.5.1 Defining the Property File – Specific Steps ................................................. 51

6 Report Development Considerations 53

6.1 Date Methods ............................................................................................ 53

6.2 Date Formats ............................................................................................. 55

6.3 Linking Result Sets ..................................................................................... 56

6.4 Hyperlinking .............................................................................................. 57

6.5 Populating the Data Set ............................................................................. 60

6.6 Closing the Data Set ................................................................................... 60

Executing Additional Queries ................................................................................. 61

6.7 Queries in the Fetch Method ....................................................................... 61

6.8 Testing for Null .......................................................................................... 62

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6.9 Scalar Functions......................................................................................... 62

6.10 Enabling Rich Text Formatting .................................................................... 63

7 Parameters 67

7.1 Bound Parameters ..................................................................................... 67

7.2 Unbound parameters ................................................................................. 67

7.3 Specifying Bound parameters in the report design ....................................... 70

7.4 Specifying Unbound parameters in the report design ................................... 70


7.4.1 Multi-select or single-select unbound parameters ....................................... 70
7.4.2 Parsing Unbound Parameters .................................................................... 72

7.5 Creating Custom Report Parameter Lookups ............................................... 73


7.5.1 Option 1 - Using valuelists for parameter lookups with fields that have domains
74
7.5.2 Option 2 - Using existing lookups ............................................................... 78
7.5.3 Option 3- Modifying existing lookups ......................................................... 79

Parameter Notes ................................................................................................... 84


7.5.4 Number of Parameter Values .................................................................... 84
7.5.5 Utilizing Parameter Values on a Report’s Request Page ............................... 84
7.5.6 Boolean Parameter Values ........................................................................ 84
7.5.7 Optional Parameters ................................................................................. 84
7.5.8 YORN Lookup .......................................................................................... 85
7.5.9 Viewing Parameters .................................................................................. 86
7.5.10 Requirements for using lookups with Parameters ....................................... 86

8 Extending Ad Hoc Reports in BIRT Designer 87

9 Debugging within the BIRT Report Design tool 91

9.1 Report Designer best practices for debugging .............................................. 93

10 Miscellaneous Features 94

10.1 Database Update Functionality ................................................................... 94


Maximo75x_Designer371_Report Development Guide

10.2 Registering a Report to Multiple Applications .............................................. 95

10.3 Registering a Report with Quick Toolbar Access ........................................... 96

11 Importing Report Designs into the Maximo Database............................................... 97

11.1 Set Up: reporttools.properties .................................................................... 98

11.2 Import Command Utility ........................................................................... 100


11.2.1 101

11.3 Export Command Utility ........................................................................... 102


11.3.1 Export Example ...................................................................................... 103
11.3.2 Additional Export Details ........................................................................ 104

11.4 Understanding the reports.xml import file ................................................. 105

Preparing the reports.xml ..................................................................................... 106

12 Customizing Reports Reference Materials 110

12.1 Update Reports Utility .............................................................................. 110

12.2 Changing Report Logos ............................................................................ 110

12.3 Understanding Report Paper Sizes and Page Breaks ................................... 111

12.4 Modifying OOB Reports ........................................................................... 112

12.5 Utilizing the Maximo Report Booklet ......................................................... 113

Reference Materials 115

© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2017


US Government Users Restricted Rights – Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule
Contract with IBM Corp.

v
REVISION HISTORY

Date Version Revised Comments


By
July 2017 10 PD Updated download location of BIRT Report
Designer
January 2017 9 PD Updated reference documents at end of guide
April 2016 8 PD Corrected spelling of
MXReportSqlFormat.restrictBetweenDays
April 2015 7 PD Added information on (1) configuring BIRT
Designer to support preview of reports in 7.5.0.8+
in IE11 in section 2.7 (2) Updated hyperlinks
Feb 2015 6 PD More information added on custom reports and
hyperlinks in Note 3 on page 59
June 2013 5 PD Updates included (1) Added more information on
potential custom report upgrade issues (Page
Displays and Fonts) to BIRT 371 on page 28 (2)
Added links in section on Customizing Reports
March 2013 4 PD Updated reference link at end of document (page
121)
January 2013 3 PD Updates included (1) Additional information in
Section 3 on Upgrading reports (2) Added notes
on upgrading Long Description data for rich text
formatting (3) Updated format (4) Included note
in section 4.1.4 on impact of modifying library file
on QBR reports.
October 2012 2 PD Added Step 2E for additional configuration jar file
August 2012 1 PD Updated BIRT Designer Download link
April 2012 PD
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

1 Overview
To respond to today’s dynamic Business Environment critical business information needs to be
immediately available. This business information can come in a variety of formats, and is often required as
a report – either a formatted business report, known as an Enterprise report, or an Ad Hoc report which is
created on the fly by users.

IBM Maximo ® includes an Open Reporting Architecture, which enables you a number of different
reporting options to choose from. The report options include a wide range of reporting tools.

The embedded reporting tool in the Maximo 7.5.0.3 Releases is BIRT, Business Intelligence and Reporting,
Version 3.7.1. As the embedded reporting tool, it enables the deepest levels of integrations throughout the
various Maximo applications.

This guide details the processes in developing BIRT Reports using the BIRT Report Designer. This includes
how report designs are utilized in V7.5.0.3, including their file structure of design, library and property files.
Additionally, information on customizing, importing, and exporting are discussed.

Also, references to other support documentation detailing common report development customizations,
including report logging, changing report logo and other features are referenced.

*Note: This document applies only to the embedded reporting tool of BIRT 3.7.1 beginning with the
Maximo® Base Services 7.5.0.3 Release and ending with the Maximo 7.6 releases.

Note: All report reference materials, including the report development guide, can be accessed from this
url: http://ibm.co/1osSHAb

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1.1 Report Types
Within the Version 7.5.0.3 release, there are a number of different data analysis options. Of these options,
three are specifically focused on reporting which are highlighted in red below.

Operational reports are often referred to as transactional reporting, and are the day to day reports users
require to complete their business tasks. Strategic reports enable viewing of data in varying perspectives
thru the use of complex graphs, in depth calculations or scenarios. Both of these are created by a
Developer in the report design tool. Ad hoc, or QBR, reports are created by users within the applications,
and are not required to be created within the report design tool.

This guide focuses on Operational and Strategic reports. Information on Ad Hoc (QBR or Query Based
Reports) reports is contained in a separate document titled ‘V75 QBR Ad Hoc Reporting’. Links to all
reference materials are noted on the last pages of this document.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2 Installation and Configuration


The BIRT Designer is an Eclipse Based Tool that Java Developers use to create and customize V7.5.0.3
Enterprise reports. Starting with V7.5.0.3, BIRT Designer 3.7.1 is used, which is based on Eclipse 3.7.1.

To enable the report integration, custom library, style sheet, templates and data sources have been
created. These files insure a consistent, look and feel for all reports, plus most importantly, insure that
reports will execute correctly from the various applications. These files must be used on all custom reports
to insure the report integration executes properly.

The BIRT Designer is installed on the client machine of the Java Developer(s) who will be creating or
customizing reports. It is not required to be on each user’s machine – only those users who will be creating
or customizing reports. Since the BIRT Designer executes off the Eclipse Framework, Eclipse must first be
installed on the Java Developers Workstation, and then the BIRT Designer is installed within Eclipse. The
client must also have a JRE version installed.

This first section will detail the installation and configuration of the BIRT designer for use starting with
Version 7.5.0.3, including:

1. Download Report Designer


2. Configure Report Designer for V7.5.0.3
3. Update Properties File
4. Access the BIRT Designer
5. Import V7503 Project
6. Common Configuration and Install Issues

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2.1 Download Report Designer
Before beginning the installation, make sure a copy of IBM JDK 1.6 (6.0) has been installed locally.

To utilize the BIRT Report Designer, it must first be downloaded to your local client machine. The
download for BIRT 3.7.1 with Eclipse 3.7.1 (V7.5.03 and later releases) can be found here:

https://ibm.co/2tff3Js

Extract the zip file to a local directory which does not include any spaces (for example: C:\birt_371)
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.2 Configure Report Designer for Maximo


After downloading and extracting the report designer, in this section, you will copy over files from Version
7.5.0.3 to the report designer.

2.2.1 Prerequisites
To perform the next steps, you will need access to a V7.5.0.3 or higher instance, including its report source.

2A. Locate the compiled classes used for report scripting from this V7.5.0.3 subdirectory:
<V7503>\reports\birt\scriptlibrary\classes

2B. Navigate to the Eclipse BIRT location below


<birt_371>\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.viewer_3.7.1.v20110905\birt\WEB-INF

Copy the entire V7503 \classes folder from step 2A to this Eclipse directory. This will create a new directory
as shown below

<birt_371>\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.viewer_3.7.1.v20110905\birt\WEB-INF \classes

2C. Copy the specific JDBC driver for your database type from this subdirectory
<V7503>\applications\maximo\lib

to:
<birt_371>\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.viewer_3.7.1.v20110905\birt\WEB-INF

For Oracle, copy/paste oraclethin.jar


For SQL Server, copy/paste sqljdbc.jar
For DB2, copy/paste db2jcc.jar and db2jcc_license_cu.jar

These database drivers are only used by the report designer.


2D. Open the Jar files from Step 2C above for your specific database type and extract the contents of the
jar file to

<birt_371>\eclipse\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.report.viewer_3.7.1.v20110905\birt\WEB-INF\classes

The screen shot below is for a DB2 environment, where the DB2 jar files have been extracted.

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Note: If you see an exception error like ‘ClassNotFound’ in BIRT Designer after following these steps,
double check that you have extracted the jar files properly in step 2D. Not extracting the jar files will cause
a ‘ClassNotFound’ Error.

2E. Locate the following jar file from your V7.5.0.3 instance at this subdirectory:

<V7503>\applications\maximo\maximouiweb\webmodule\WEB-
INF\birt\platform\plugins\org.eclipse.birt.data_3.7.1.v20110905.jar

Copy and past it to the Eclipse BIRT location below


<birt_371>\eclipse\plugins

NOTE: If you do not perform Step 2E, you may experience unnecessary failure issues with reports using
nested data sets.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.3 Update Properties file


The mxreportdatasources.properties file is used to define the connection to the Maximo database from the
BIRT Designer client tool. It is only used for database access within the report design tool. When the
reports are executed from within the Maximo applications, their connection information will be passed
dynamically from Maximo

Typically, this file is enabled for developers in two different ways -

1. It is configured by an administrator and then distributed to each developer for his use.
2. It is configured by the developer himself.

The database that is typically used in this configuration is a test or development database. It is not the
production, transactional database.

This section will review the various ways this property file can be configured.

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2.3.1 Properties File Values
The mxreportdatasources.properties file contains information for the report designer to connect to your
V7503 database. You copied this file in step 2B to your local Eclipse BIRT Directory. You now need to edit
this property file for your unique configuration. The values you need to define include
Database URL
Database Driver
Database Username and Password
Schema Owner

Additionally, you will need to change #<DataSourceName> to maximoDataSource.

Portions of the property file are shown below. An example of how you will configure it is shown below
with sample values for a DB2 database in the outlined area.

#<DataSourceName>.<propertyName>=value

# driver for ORACLE


# oracle.jdbc.OracleDriver
# sample url for ORACLE
# jdbc:oracle:thin:@<HOST>:<PORT>:<SID>
# sample schemaowner for ORACLE
# maximo

# driver for SQLServer


# com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
# sample url for SQLServer
# jdbc:sqlserver://hostname:port;databaseName=dbname;integratedSecurity=false;
# sample schemaowner for SQLServer
# dbo

# driver for DB2


# com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver
# sample url for DB2
# jdbc:db2://localhost:50000/dbalias
# sample schemaowner for DB2
# maximo

maximoDataSource.url= jdbc:db2://IBM-A5:50000/DB2A
maximoDataSource.driver=com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver
maximoDataSource.username=wilson
maximoDataSource.password=wilson
maximoDataSource.schemaowner=maximo

The values in green are the default for all reports, and you must use this text exactly.

The values in red represent a sample DB2 database.

2.3.2 Database username and Password


Within the mxreportdatasources.properties file, you define the database username and password for the
report developer. This enables the developer to preview the report results within the report design tool to
confirm the report is functioning correctly.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

You can choose to either input these values directly into the properties file, or you can choose to encrypt
the values.

Property File Encryption


To encrypt the username and password values within the mxreportdatasources.properties file, follow the
steps below:

1. Define the username and password values in mxreportdatasource.properties.

2. Open up a command prompt. Navigate to the location <V7503>\reports\birt\tools and execute


encryptproperties. This utility will
A. Encrypt the username and password values
B. Add a value to the property file called: maximoDataSource.encrypted=true

3. Once the username and password is encrypted, you can distribute it to your developer(s) for use in their
local environment.

After the encryption process, the property file will be updated to values similar to what is shown below.

maximoDataSource.encrypted=true
maximoDataSource.schemaowner=maximo
maximoDataSource.username=YaNJYGUPFrc\=

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maximoDataSource.url=jdbc\:db2\://IBM-A5\:50000/DB2A
maximoDataSource.password=mEWNeVcBRfuBL54acL+JSg\=\=
maximoDataSource.driver=com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver

Notes on properties file

1. UPGRADE: The keys used to enable encryption of these values in Maximo have been updated. If you
have encrypted the values in V7.5.0.0 thru V7.5.0.2 – you will have to repeat the encryption process in the
later versions of Maximo for the functionality to work properly.

2. The encryption process adds escape characters to the URL, which do not affect its value

3. The encryption process only encrypts values identified by maximoDataSource values

4. You may not want to grant each report developer full database access by using the system maximo
database user privileges as the developer creates and test report designs. Instead, you may want the
developer to have restricted database access. This restriction usually requires that the report developer be
granted ‘read only’ access to a limited number of database objects. To do this, a unique database user is
required. Details in how to do this can be found in later in this guide in the section titled ‘Report Developer
Database Access’.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.4 Access the Report Design Tool


These next steps detail how you will access the Report Designer.

4A. First, create a shortcut to BIRT Designer 371 from eclipse.exe.

4B. Update the shortcut’s target to include your JDK 1.6 install by modifying the path highlighted in red
below.

C:\birt371\eclipse\eclipse.exe -vm “C:\Program Files\IBM\Java60\jre\bin\java.exe” –vmargs –Xmx512m

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4C. Launch the BIRT Designer 371 from your new shortcut.

4D. Select an applicable workspace location for your environment. Check ‘Use this as default’ field and OK.

Eclipse SDK Opens.


MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.5 Import Maximo Project


In this last section, you will import the Maximo Project into your report development environment.

NOTE: Use forward slashes or the Select button when specifying the folder paths in Eclipse.

5A. First, specify the resource folder location to import the Maximo libraries.

A. From the Menu, select Window - Preferences.


B. Expand Report Design and select Resource.
C. Browse to your local report library location and select Apply.
<V7503>/reports/birt/libraries

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5B. Specify the templates folder location to import the Maximo templates.

A. If not already open, from the menu, Select Window - Preferences.


B. Expand Report Design and select Templates.
C. Browse to your local report template location and select Apply.
<V7503>/reports/birt/templates
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5C. Disable the Comment Template.


A. If not already open, from the menu, Select Window - Preferences.
B. Remove the flag from the ‘Generate comment when creating a report design’ field if it is set.
(It is disabled by default)

5D. Next, import the report project to bring the Maximo reports into your project workspace.
A. Click File, New Project. Under Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools, select Report Project.
Click Next.
B. Enter a Project Name.
a. Remove the flag in the ‘Use Default Location’ field.
b. For the Location Field Value, browse to the location of your Maximo report source.
<V7503>\reports\birt\reports. Click Finish to import the files..

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D. To confirm the reports imported properly, expand a folder and then double click on an rptdesign file to
open it. In the screenshot below, the ASSET folder is expanded, and the asset_availability.rptdesign file
selected.

E. You can confirm that the correct project is imported. To do this, right click on the Project.

*NOTE: The location should be your Maximo report source. It should not be under an Eclipse directory.

Also, a .project file will be created under your <V7503>\reports\birt\reports directory.


MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.6 Common Install and Configuration Issues


If you have issues configuring the report designer, verify the items below have been properly configured or
installed.

1. JDK 1.6 is installed.


2. The BIRT Designer ‘All In One’ Package was used
3. The supported versions of Eclipse 3.7.1 and BIRT 3.7.1 are being used. The Eclipse 3.7.1 Release is
also known as the ‘Indigo Service Release 1’ as shown below. You can see these details by clicking
on the ‘Help – About Eclipse’ Link from the Designer Window.

Additional platform details are available by clicking on the ‘Installation Details’ button, and then
drilling down into the ‘Installed Software’ as shown below

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4. Both steps 2C and 2D were performed.
a. For 2D, make sure that you extracted the Database Jar Files to the directory. If the jar
files are copied only, errors will result.

5. Confirm that the mxreportdatasources.properties file was configured for your unique
environment.
a. To help confirm this, check if you can connect to the configured database using Eclipse’s
Data Tools Connections.
b. To do this, from the Menu, select Window – Open Perspective – Other and the window
below will display. Select Database Development.

c. Then go thru the steps of adding a new connection profile and testing Database Connectivity
from the BIRT Designer.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

2.7 Using IE 10/11 with BIRT 3.7.1 starting in Maximo Version 7.5.0.8 or higher

Note the following considerations if you want to use Internet Explorer 10 or 11 with BIRT 3.7.1 starting in
Maximo Version 7.5.0.8 or higher

A. If you want to use Internet Explorer Version 11 to preview a report within BIRT Designer 3.7.1, the steps
below are required to set the internal BIRT Designer browser to compatibility mode.

1. Exit out of BIRT Designer

2. Open the eclipse.ini file located in the same directory as the eclipse.exe
Example: <directory>\birt_431\eclipse

3. Insert the lines at the end of the script:


-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.DefaultType=ie,mozilla
-Dorg.eclipse.swt.browser.IEVersion=7000

4. Re-Start BIRT Designer.

B. Test your custom BIRT reports in IE 10 and 11 to insure no issues occur with images, charts or custom
scripting code

C. Users may experience additional dialogs when using Direct Print with Attachments in IE 11 32 bit versus
64 bit.

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3 Upgrading to BIRT Report Designer 3.7.1
If you are upgrading to BIRT Designer 3.7.1 from either a 7.1x or 7.5.0.2 or earlier environment, there have
been a number of template, report and scripting updates which can impact your report development
environment.

Because of these changes, it is highly recommended that you maintain two BIRT instances during your
upgrade process. This means that you would continue to have your existing BIRT Report Designer
installed, along with installing the new BIRT Report Designer 3.7.1 for your new Maximo 7.5.0.3+ instance.

In your existing Report Designer instance, you would continue to use the existing platforms,
property file and scripting classes.

In your new Report Designer 3.7.1 instance, you would use the updated designer, along with the
updated 7.5.0.3+ templates and scripting classes.

Additionally, please take the following key items into consideration when upgrading to BIRT 371

1. Backup your report source


It is recommended that you backup your report source due whenever you do a fix pack update, and/or a
BIRT version upgrade. To perform this backup, perform steps similar to what are noted below:

A) Export all of your existing reports from your Maximo database to a new report directory. Name the
report directory for future identification, for example <v7>\reports\birt\DatabaseExport_Pre7503update

You can find details on exporting reports can be found in later sections of this guide.

B) Navigate to the location of your existing reports directory: <v7503install_dir>\reports\birt\reports

C) Copy and paste the reports directory, then rename it for ease of identification, for example:
<v7503install_dir>reports\birt\Reportsource_Pre7503update

2. BIRT 371 is upgrade compatible – but it is not backward compatible.


This means that you can open a report created in BIRT 232 in BIRT 371. However, once that report design
file is opened in BIRT 371, it can not be re-opened in BIRT 232.

Therefore, as noted above, be sure to backup your report source to maintain a set of design files for your
earlier BIRT Version.

3. The fix pack upgrades BIRT to version 3.7.1 and contains updated report design files.
If you previously customized delivered BIRT reports and did not rename the file, your customizations may
be overwritten with this fix pack. Therefore, be sure to review your customized reports – and rename them
– before applying this fix pack update.

4. After you install the fix pack, regardless of your BIRT version, you must import your report design
files.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5. When configuring the 371 Report designer, be sure to perform ALL configuration steps.
A new configuration requirement, Step 2E detailed above, to copy an additional jar file to the 371 report
designer. If you do not perform Step 2E, you may experience unnecessary failure issues with reports using
nested data sets.

6. When you upgrade your custom reports from Version 212 or 232 to Version 371, you can potentially
see errors in your custom reports that were not seen in earlier versions.

This can occur because the report development rules within the BIRT report designer have been tightened.
Based on the upgrade to the delivered reports, the following issues were seen. You may or may not
experience these same issues, and you also may see other issues that were not seen with the delivered
reports.

6A. Dataset Not Defined.


Issue: You may see this issue if at one time, you had a field used within a report, and then later removed it.
However, if the field’s data binding was not properly removed, errors can result in Version 371 due to
tighter business rules. An example of the error that you may see within the report designer is show below.

Table (id = 1634): #NAME?


Error evaluating Javascript expression. Script engine error: Invalid bound column name: shipvia
Script source: null, line: 0, text:
<compiled script> (Element ID: 1634)

Resolution: To resolve this error, search thru the XML source for the Data Set. Once you have located it,
remove the fields from the data binding that are not used within the report. An example of a delivered
report that had this error was Labor Rate Contract Details as shown below.

Reports Updated:
Labor Contract Details (laborcontract_print.rptdesign)
Inventory ABC (inventory_abc.rptdesign)
Assignment Manager Monthly Format (ammonthly_format.rptdesign)

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6B. Hierarchy reports
Issue: Hierarchy reports show parent-child-grandchild relationships, and often enable the user to drill
down on the lower levels of the relationships for more data. When upgrading Hierarchy reports to 371, an
issue was found that only the first child of the first level displayed. If the first child level had more than one
record, it would not display and an error like the one below would display

Table (id = 1413):


+ Can not load the report query: 1413. Errors occurred when generating the report document for the report
element with ID 1,413. (Element ID: 1413) Only header and footer display. no report output. only the err
msg.

Resolution: This was resolved by adding grouping to the report nested tables.

Reports Updated:
Classification Hierarchy (class_hierarchy.rptdesign)
Job Plan Hierarchy (jobplan_hierarchy.rptdesign)
Location Hierarchy by System (loc_hierarchy.rptdesign)
Work Order Hierarchy (workorder_hierarchy.rptdesign)

6C. Font Sizes


Issue: Report text display is larger/smaller than in prior versions. This may occur if you use font size values
in the BIRT report designer of small, medium and large. The reason this occurred is that the explicit font
sizes assigned by BIRT changed during the upgrade. (For example, small was changed from 7.5 to 10.)

Resolution: Utilize explicit font size values, like 10 and 12 to avoid unexpected display issues.

Reports Updated:
This issue did not occur in the Maximo delivered reports. However, it was seen in some client’s reports
who specified small, medium and large font sizes.

6D. Page Display


Issue: You may see unexpected page breaks in your custom reports. This may occur because in BIRT
2.3.2, the “Page break inside” property defaulted to “Auto”. However, during BIRT Version Updates to
3.7.1, the default value has been changed to “Avoid”.

Resolution: Change the “Page Break Inside” variable back to Auto.


Detailed instructions on how to do this are contained in the document titled ‘V7 Report Page and Page
Break Information’ in the section ‘Upgrading to BIRT 371 – Potential page break issues’. This document
can be downloaded at this url:

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21317577

Reports Updated:
A number of delivered reports were updated for this page display issue, including the Application Detail
reports.

7. Property file password encryption


In Version 7.5.0.0, the ability to encrypt the database password in the mxreportdatasource.properties file
was enabled. The keys used for the encryption of the mxreportdatasource.properties file have been
updated in V7.5.0.3. Therefore, if you had encrypted the values in V7.5.0.0 thru V7.5.0.2, you will have to
repeat the encryption process in V7.5.0.3. This process is noted above in the section titled ‘Database
username and Password’.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Report Developer Database Access


Report developers require database access to create and customize reports. This enables them to test
their report design to insure the applicable content is being retrieved.

Clients may not want to grant each report developer full database access by using the system maximo
database user privileges ad the developer creates and test report designs. Instead, they want the
developer to have restricted database access. This restriction usually requires that the report developer be
granted ‘read only’ access to a limited number of database objects. To do this, a unique database user is
required.

The steps below detail a few different ways on how this restricted access can be granted thru the use of a
unique database user. After this unique database user is created, the steps for incorporating the new
database user for the report developer are described.

Method 1 – Creating Database User and Access within User Application

If you are using Oracle or SQL Server, you can directly create a new database user through the User
Application in Maximo. To do this, first create a new user for your report developer. Then, from the Action
Menu select ‘Database Access’.

29
Enter a unique Database User ID, along with the database password. Then, using the table section in the
bottom portion of the dialog, specify the database objects that the report developer should have access to.
Grant database ‘read only’ access to these specific database objects the report developer will be creating
reports against. In this example, the developer, Bailey, is given read only database access to the Asset, CI
and Locations objects.

Note: If you are using DB2, the new database user must also be an Operating System (OS) User.
Therefore, the DB2 user must first be added as an OS user before performing the action above.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Method 2 – Creating Database User and Access within Database Configuration Tools

You can also create a new database user and specify access through a Database Configuration Tool. To do
this, access the database querying tool, and locate the database instance you are working with. From the
tool, add a new database user. (*Note: The method in which you access this functionality will vary by
database tool and type.)

Once the database user is created, then grant ‘Read only’ database privileges via scripts to the specific
database tables he will have access to. Example scripts are shown below, where the report developer,
Bailey, is granted ‘read only’ access to the ASSET, CI and LOCATIONS objects.

grant select on MAXIMO.ASSET to bailey

grant select on MAXIMO.CI to bailey

grant select on MAXIMO.LOCATIONS to bailey

Configuring the BIRT Report Designer to use the new report developer database user

31
After the new database user has been created, this database user will then be used by the report developer
in his unique instance. To enable this, the mxreportdatasources.properties file will be updated.

This mxreportdatasources.properties file specifies the database url and driver, along with the database
user and password that should be used. Using our example above, values for this property file could be:

maximoDataSource.url=jdbc:db2://V7116:50000/HARRIER
maximoDataSource.driver=com.ibm.db2.jcc.DB2Driver
maximoDataSource.username=bailey
maximoDataSource.password=bailey1abc
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

4 Report Design Files


Before creating reports, a review of the report design process will be detailed. There are three files created
for report designs.
1. Design File. This contains the details on the report – its sql, grouping, sorting, hyperlinking, etc. An
example of this is the asset_availability.rptdesign file.

The Design File uses a custom scripted data source. This is done to fully utilize the specific functionality
for Runtime Data Translation and Time Zone Conversions.

The scripted data source calls the JDBC Connection to execute the report against the Maximo database.

2. Properties File. This contains the text values and keys of each column label and report title. There
is one properties file for each application that has reports. This enables the same label values (ex.
Description) to be used only once. This property file is one of the major components used in
localization. An example of this is the asset.properties file.

3. Reports.xml File. This file defines the report information (its design file name, its parameters, its
application etc.) and is used to import the report files into the database. There is one reports.xml
file for each application.

The chart below shows how the report files interact with each other. At the top level is the design file,
which always has the file extension of .rptdesign.

Each of the reports has a dependency on the Maximo® System Library File. A BIRT Design file can only
have a dependency on either another design file (.rptdesign) or another library file (.rptlibrary)

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The Maximo System Library file has its own import file, called libraries.xml. If a change is made to the
Maximo System Library, the libraries.xml file is used to import that library change into the database.

The Maximo System Library file contains references to the resources, or image files. These typically have a
.gif or .jpg extension. When a resource file is imported into the database, the files are converted to .zip
format. (These files are stored as BLOB data types in the database.)

The properties files are also resource files. Properties files are referenced in the reports.xml which is used
to import the reports into the database.

File Name Dependency Resource Description Location**


Asset.rptdesign Asset List Design File reports
maximoSystemLibrary.rptlibrary Maximo System Library libraries
.gif/.jpg files Resources or Image Files libraries
asset.properties Asset Property file libraries
Reports.xml Information on report and its reports
parameters. Used for
importing

**Location in the chart has been condensed. Its full path is <v75>\reports\birt\....

More details on these files are contained in the report file structure below.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

4.1 Report File Structure


4.1.1 Delivered Report File Structure
The reporting infrastructure contains not only the files required for the report engine, but also the design
files, libraries, templates and various tools used during the reporting processes. The 75 file structure is
shown and detailed below.

4.1.2 birtplatform
Contain files required for the BIRT engine. These files should not be modified.
4.1.3 eri
Files for configuring V7RI (Integration used when a Version 6 environment uses V7 Reporting)
4.1.4 Libraries
Library, Resource and Property files required to support the report design files.
A. Library. Libraries store re-usable components, functionality and images. Reports that use libraries are
automatically updated with the latest library information when they are executed.
One system library, called MaximoSystemLibrary.rptlibrary, is used. It contains two core items:
1. Master Pages. This defines items like the margins for printing, and the controls used for page
formatting (ex page n of m). This is contained in the library because it is used on all reports, and rarely
changes.
2. Themes. This contains the style sheet, which defines the font type, font size and other text
characteristics to be used in the reports. The theme in the library is referred to as the style in the report
design. The maximoTheme contains the specific colors and formatting for the reports.
Note: Maximo’s Ad Hoc reporting, or qbr reporting, requires the names "maximoLandscape" and
"maximoDataSource" for the appropriate library components. If you rename or replace either of these
components, QBR reports will not execute.

If you need to modify the master page "maximoLandscape" in the library, be sure to keep the original
name of ‘maximoLandscape” after your modifications. Additionally, be sure to review this file in any
future fixpacks or version updates, as you may need to re-apply your customizations.

B. Resource. Resource files are .gif or .jpg images used in report designs. Two resource files are used.
These are IBM_logo_black.gif and tivoli.gif, which are the two logos displayed at the top right and left
hand corner of each Maximo delivered report. Resource files are imported into the database as zipped
files.
You may want to customize the reports to use their own corporate logos. Information on how to do this
is in ‘Changing Logos in BIRT Reports’ referenced on the last page of this document.

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C. Properties File. Each of the application’s properties file is contained within this subdirectory.
Property files contain the text values of the report titles, and column/Subheader labels.
Property files are created at the application level, and not at the report level, because reports within an
application frequently share the same text label values. (Example: Asset Reports often use the same
labels of Asset, Location, Site, multiple times.)

4.1.5 Reports
Contains Report Design Files stored within their corresponding application subfolder. Also contains the
reports.xml file with information on each report used for importing.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

4.1.6 Script library


The Script library contains script library classes and the mxreportdatasources.properties file used by BIRT
Designer tool to connect to databases.
For the integration of BIRT, when a report developer creates a report, a Custom Scripted Data Source is
used. This Scripted Data Source is called ‘maximoDataSource’.

A scripted data source is used to fully utilize the specific functionality for Runtime Data Translation and
Time Zone Conversions. An example of this functionality is the localized values of Description. If a client
is running both English and Spanish environments, and the English values of descriptions been localized
into Spanish, the scripted data source is required to insure the localized Spanish descriptions display in
reports. The classes for the scripting are contained within this subfolder.

Notes on Script Library:


1. Whenever you update your system to a new patch release or version of Maximo Base Services, the script
library may have been updated in the new release. To insure that you use the most recent script libraries in
your environment, copy the latest script library from

<V75.xDirectory>\reports\birt\scriptlibrary\classes

To

<birt>\eclicpse\plugins\<birt report viewer directory>\birt\WEB-INF\classes

For example, when you upgrade from Maximo Base Services 7.5 to a future fixpack of Maximo Base
Services 7.5.x, copy the 7.5.x classes directory to your existing BIRT instance. For more information,
reference the Upgrade section within this guide.

2. For details on the script library, including the methods available, reference the V7 Java Docs available on
IBM’s Integrated Service Management Library at http://bit.ly/pPtbKn

For version 7.5, you can find the report scripting methods in
<Javadocs7500>\com\ibm\tivoli\maximo\report\script

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4.1.7 Report Templates
Twelve template files are used as starting point in creating report design files. Each template is available in
both Portrait and Landscape file format. The portrait template includes portrait in its file name and
description, whereas the landscape template does not.

File Name Template Name Description

maximoListReport Tivoli Maximo List For simple listing report - traditional row, column
format.
Tivoli Maximo List Portrait

maximoGroupReport Tivoli Maximo Grouped Report Same as listing report - but contains sections for
grouping results - ex. group by site or status
Tivoli Maximo Grouped Report
Portrait

maximoSubreport Tivoli Maximo Subreport Used for complex reports, including detail reports
Tivoli Maximo Subreport Portrait

maximoChartListReport. Tivoli Maximo List Chart Simple listing report, which includes a graphic for
either bar, line or pie chart before the report's results.
Tivoli Maximo List Chart Portrait

maximoChartGroupReport Tivoli Maximo Grouped Chart Grouped report with graphic for either bar, line or pie
chart before the report's results.
Tivoli Maximo Grouped Chart Portrait

maximoChartSubreport Tivoli Maximo Subreport Chart Complex report with graphic for either bar, line or pie
chart before the report's results.
Tivoli Maximo Subreport Chart
Portrait

*NOTES:
1. When creating any report to be used within Maximo, you must start with one of the Tivoli Maximo
templates as they contain the required scripted data source and library files needed for the integration.
If you do not use a template or an out of the box report as your starting point, your reports will eventually
fail when executed from the Maximo environment. The templates contain critical scripting classes which
are used by the report engine to determine when a report has started and finished. Without these scripting
classes, the report queue will build up and you will soon receive out of memory errors.
2. If the portrait templates are not available in your environment, you can download them from IBM’s ISM
Library at http://bit.ly/iwBvoc
4.1.8 Tools
Files used to importing and exporting report design files from database. More information on these tools
is contained in the Import and Exporting sections.

Additional Notes on Report Source:


1. There are no separate library or design files for the three database types that are supported. Within the
report source, the sql is being written in ANSI Standards, so it will be applicable to any of the 3 database
types.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

• There may be a few out of the box reports where the database specific sql is required. In
these cases, the sql will be written with conditional statements (ex. If database type = IBM
DB2®, do this. If not, do this + that…etc)

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4.2 Your Custom Reports and the Report File Structure
The section above reviewed the delivered report source and file structure. However, you may need to
create or modify reports to meet your individual business needs. In this case, you will have new or
modified report design files, reports.xml and properties file.

To streamline the administration and maintenance of your custom report design files, and also to insure
that they are properly updated in future hot fix and fix pack releases, it is highly recommended that you
implement a file structure similar to what is shown below.

For New Custom Reports – Report Design and XML file


For any new custom reports you create, it is highly recommended that you assign them unique report file
names, and also create new reports.xml files for these. You may want to make them unique by utilizing
your company name, or another identifier in their file name and reports.xml.

To illustrate this, let’s imagine you created a new report for the Location application, which is titled
Location History Report. To highlight this as your report, you may want to call it
location_history_abc.rptdesign, where abc is the name of your company.

Additionally, when you create its reports.xml, instead of modifying the existing location’s reports.xml for
this new report, create your own unique reports.xml titled reports_abc.xml, which is located under the
directory: <V75>\reports\birt\reports\LOCATION
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

For New Custom or Modified Reports – Properties file


As stated above, the properties file contains the text for the title and labels within your report. This is used
to insure the values can be properly localized.

When you create custom reports, you can choose to either modify the existing properties file for the
application, or create your own new properties file. To determine the solution that is best for your
environment, you may want to take the following into consideration

1. A single report design can only reference a single properties file.


2. Applications can utilize multiple properties file. During the command import process, all
properties file for the application will be imported.
3. Report titles, labels may be modified during release, fix pack or hot fix updates. Therefore, if
you modify the delivered properties file with your customizations, your updates may be
overridden during an update.

Based on this, you may want to create your own custom properties file, by copying the delivered file and
then renaming your properties file to quickly identify it.

Then, when your developer adds new labels for your new reports, he will add them to the custom
properties, location_abc.properties as shown below in the Report Designer.

By creating unique file names and unique reports.xml files for your custom reports, they will always be
imported during the import process. The import process imports any xml file it sees – not just the

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delivered reports.xml file. Additionally, when modifications are made to the out of the box reports, you
will not have to merge your changes – they will be kept separate.

For Modifications to Delivered Reports - Report Design and XML file


You may decide that you simply need to add or remove fields to a delivered report to meet your data
analysis requirements.

In this case, it is recommended that you follow the same process as above, in making a copy of the original
report design file, renaming it to a unique file name, and then making the customizations to the new report
design file. This same process would apply to the reports.xml file. Make a copy of it, rename it, and make
the change to the new reports.xml file.

Following a similar example as above, you need to modify the Location Availability Report. To do this, you
1. Copy the loc_availability.rptdesign file
2. Rename the copied version to loc_availability_abc.rptdesign
3. Make the changes to the report in the Report Design tool and save.

For the reports.xml file, you


1. Copy the reports.xml file
2. Rename the copied version to reports_abc.xml.
3. Find the location availability entry and modify it to use the new file name,
loc_availability_abc.rptdesign and any other changes to the report and parameters. Delete all
other references to design files that you have not modified.

Your resulting file structure will look something like this

An example of the copied and modified reports_abc.xml is below. Note again, that this version of the
reports.xml should only include the entries for the files you have updated. Do not leave in entries of the
report design files you have not modified.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Notes:
1. With this approach on duplicating and modifying the report source and files, you will end up with two
entries of the location availability report in your database and also in the Report Administration
application. These are the original report, and the report you have customized.

A. To only make the customized version (loc_availability_abc.rptdesign) available to your users,


only enable report file security to this file in the report administration application.

B. Or, you could remove the original file (loc_availability.rptdesign) from the original reports.xml
file. However, you would need to repeat this process for each future fix pack or release upgrade
you receive.

2. For recommendations on the properties file for modifications to delivered reports, please see the
section above titled ‘For New Custom or Modified Reports – Properties file’

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5 Developing a report
This section details how to create a report design within the Report Designer for Maximo

Note: Before beginning this process, review the section titled ‘Extending Ad Hoc Reports in the BIRT Designer’.
This section details how you can streamline the report development process by minimizing the steps below
thru the use of exported ad hoc reports. It is highly recommended that you utilize this process to save both
development time and resources.

If you want to create a report design file without using the ad hoc exporting process, follow the process below.

The steps required for report development are:


1. Specifying the query
2. Creating the output columns
3. Updating the Fetch to map the query columns to the output columns
4. Formatting the report
5. Defining the property file

To begin, access the Report Designer. Then, select File – New – Report or choose New Report from the
dropdown list. A number of sample reports and templates are displayed.

Select the desired Tivoli Maximo template from the list. You must select a Tivoli Maximo template as they
contain the necessary scripted data source and library for the integration.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5.1 Specifying the Query


The first step in creating a BIRT report is to input the sql statement. When doing this, it is highly
recommended that you first develop and test all required queries in your separate database query tool.
BIRT does not validate SQL and a query tool will provide clearer error messages.

To input the sql, select the data set in the Data Explorer, then choose Script tab. Select the Open method.
Copy your query from the query tool and paste it into the method body under the existing sample query.
Format your query to match the sample provided in the template.

Notes on the sql:

1. It is recommended that ANSI SQL join syntax (left outer, right outer) should be used. ANSI functions
such as CASE and COALESCE should be used instead of proprietary functions such as DECODE and
ISNULL.

2. Owner qualification (MAXIMO.workorder) should NOT be used

3. Reference all database objects in lower-case.

4. Each report must contain the base table name of the application it will be accessed from in its sql
statement.

This can be explained using the example of a report that will be accessed from the Location application.
The sql for this report must include the base table name of the Location application. You can find the base
table name for an application by executing a query similar to what is shown below:
select maintbname from maxapps where app = 'LOCATION'

Once you obtain the base table name, confirm that it is included in your sql. Even if you do not include any
fields from the base table, it still must be included in the report’s sql.

45
5.2 Creating the Output Columns
Next, the report output columns will be defined. Double-click the data set to open the properties dialog.
In the Output Columns editor, enter a column for each field in your query, as well as for any computed
columns.

Set the data type for each output column based on the maxtype of the field. The chart below shows the
Maximo database type, the corresponding BIRT Data Type, and the method used within the report
designer to retrieve its value.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5.2.1 Maximo-BIRT Data Mapping

Maximo Database Type BIRT Data Type Data Set Method used to Retrieve

ALN, CLOB, GL, LONGALN, LOWER, String getString(String attributeName)


UPPER

YORN* String getBooleanString(String attributeName)

DATETIME, TIME DateTime getTimestamp(String attributeName)

DATE Date getDate (String attributeName)

AMOUNT, DECIMAL, DURATION** Decimal getDouble(String attributeName)

FLOAT Float getFloat(String attributeName)

DURATION** String getDuration(String attributeName)

INTEGER, SMALLINT Integer getInteger(String attributeName)

To determine the Maximo data types (maxtypes) of the fields used in your queries, you can query the
maxattribute object directly in the database. An example of this is:

select attributename, maxtype from maxattribute where objectname = 'WORKORDER' order by


attributename

Or, you can use Database Configuration application to look up the maxtypes, using the Type field on the
Attributes tab.

5.2.2 Notes
1. You do not have to give the output columns the same names as the database fields, although it is
usually easier to do so.

2. The following Database Types are not supported in reports: BLOB, CLOB, CRYPTO and CRYPTOX.

3. YORN fields are stored in the database as numbers (0 and 1) but are presented in Maximo as localized
text. The getBooleanString(String attributeName) method will perform both tasks: retrieve the numeric
value and translate it to the appropriate text. You also can obtain the translated value from the integer
using getBooleanString(int intValue).

4. DURATION is stored in the database as a number (decimal hours) but in Maximo it is presented as a
string in the format HH:MM. The getDuration method will return the formatted string. If you require the
numeric value instead, you can use getDecimal.

An additional utility method, MXReportUtil.getDuration(String attributeName), is provided to perform


the conversion from double to string.

5. If you leave the open method visible as you do this, you can use it for reference on the columns.

47
5.3 Updating the Fetch
In the third step, you need to map the query columns to the output columns. This is done by updating the
fetch method.

On the Script tab, choose the Fetch method from the dropdown. Add a line for each column that retrieves
the value of the field from the data set and updates the output column with that value. Use the
appropriate method based on the data type of the field, following the Maximo-BIRT Data mapping chart
shown in the section above.

5.4 Formatting the Report


Begin formatting your report by dragging the fields from the data set to the report. Set a fixed width for
each column, otherwise the report will not format correctly in PDF.

Set any parameter display fields. Do not drag parameters from the Data Explorer into the report. Instead,
drag a Data element and set the Value Expression to the parameter.

If there are groups, set the keys.


MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5.4.1 Formatting Notes

1. All Table elements should have widths set to 100%. Some templates included fixed table widths (in
inches) and this is incorrect. You can also remove the height if it is set.

2. The style "titlesub" can be used for text that appears directly under the title. Examples of out of the box
reports that use this style are detail reports, like Work Order Details, for the detail report key and
description.

3. All subreports exist in a single cell, stacked on top of each other.

4. To receive a page break after the last subreport, a group was added. The group key is set to the unique
key for the report - for example in Person Details (person_details.rptdesign) it is set to Personid. The page
break after property on the group is set to "Always excluding last".

Now there will be a page break after each person record (including the related subreports) but not after the
last person, which would cause a blank page at the end. The report footer rows have been deleted, again
because this would cause a trailing blank page.

5. If you try to view your report within the designer as ‘View as PDF’, it will not work unless you install the
iText jar. You will receive this error:

org.eclipse.birt.report.service.api.ReportServiceException: Report engine fails to create extension to


handle this request.

6. If you want to change the font of the reports to a Unicode or other format, you should change the Style
Sheet used in the Report Library.

The default fonts used in the out of the box reports are Verdana, Arial, Sans-serif.

The font used will depend on what is available from the user’s browser. It will start with Verdana,
and if that is not available, it will use Arial and then Sans-Serif.

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5.5 Defining the Property File
As noted in the Report Design File Structure Section, properties files hold the text values for the labels and
titles used within a report. Additionally, in the sub-section titled ‘For New Custom or Modified Reports –
Properties file’, it detailed how you can choose to either modify the existing properties file for the
application, or create your own new properties file. The main items to take into consideration are
recapped here below -

1. A single report design can only reference a single properties file.


2. Applications can utilize multiple properties file. During the command import process, all
properties file for the application will be imported.
3. Report titles, labels may be modified during release, fix pack or hot fix updates. Therefore, if
you modify the delivered properties file with your customizations, your updates may be
overridden during an update.

Based on this, you may want to create your own custom properties file, by copying the delivered file and
then renaming your properties file to quickly identify it.

Then, when your developer adds new labels for your new reports, he will add them to the custom
properties, location_abc.properties as shown in the steps below in the Report Designer.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5.5.1 Defining the Property File – Specific Steps


The specific steps to associate the report with a label properties file are detailed below.

1. Within the report designer, in the Outline tab, highlight the report name. In Property Editor -
Properties, select Resources. Click on the ‘Add’ Button in the Resource File Field.

Browse to the location of your properties file. In this case, the copied location_abc properties file is
chosen.

2. Now, you can build the properties file by highlighting either a title or a label. Then, select the
Localization property on the left, and click the browse icon to either select an existing label or add a new
label.

51
3. After your developer has completed creating the properties file, you may want to add an identifier to
the properties file to highlight where your custom labels start as shown below. This will enable you to
quickly identify them for future fix pack, version upgrades.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

6 Report Development Considerations


6.1 Date Methods
The MXReportSqlFormat static methods are provided to support date formatting. Most of them return
JDBC date/time/timestamp literals that can be used in report SQL statements for all supported databases.
For example:

"where actualdate <=" + MXReportSqlFormat.JdbcDateFormat.DATE.format(MXReportSqlFormat


.getCurrentDateFunction())
evaluates to:
where actualdate <= { ts '07-01-2012 13:22:45' }

Below are the recommended date methods


getCurrentDateFunction() – current date as java.util.Date

JdbcDateFormat.DATE.format(Date d)* – JDBC DATE literal based on date input

JdbcDateFormat.TIME.format(Date d)* – JDBC TIME literal based on date input

JdbcDateFormat.TIMESTAMP.format(Date d)* – JDBC TIMESTAMP literal based on date input

restrictBetweenDays(String field, Date start, Date end) * – creates a JDBC TIMESTAMP literal restriction on field as: (
[field] >= [start, zeroed time] and [field] < [end, added 1 day, zeroed time] )
Example: Restricting asset on asset.statusdate within 1 date interval where startdate is 2010/07/01 12:32:55 and
enddate is 2012/07/01 8:03:02

var where = MXReportSqlFormat.restrictBetweenDays("asset.statusdate", params["startdate"], params["enddate"])


The variable where will contain:
( asset.statusdate >= { ts 2010/07/01 0:0:0 } and asset.statusdate < { ts 2012/07/02 0:0:0} )

restrictBetweenDateLiterals(String field, String start, String end) * – useful when you already have the JDBC literal
TIME, DATE or TIMESTAMP output is: ( [field] >= [start] and [field] < [end] )

ModifyDate.NEXT_DAY.skip(Date d) * – returns new date based on [d] one day ahead, time is unmodified

ModifyDate.PREVIOUS_DAY.skip(Date d) * – returns new date based on [d] one day backwards, time is unmodified

ModifyTime.STARTDAY.set(Date d) * – returns new date based on [d] with time portion 0:0:0.000

ModifyTime.ENDDAY.set(Date d) * – returns new date based on [d] with time portion 23:58:59.998

Note: Methods noted with an asterisk were introduced in the 7.5 release
MXReportSqlFormat.restrictBetweenDays

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Note: You may find the functions below in some of the delivered reports. These functions can be used,
however, the ones noted above are the preferred functions moving forward.

getCurrentTimestampFunction() – JDBC TIMESTAMP literal based current date & time

use JdbcDateFormat.DATE.format(getCurrentDateFunction())

getDateFunction(Date d) - JDBC DATE literal based on Date d input

use JdbcDateFormat.DATE.format(Date d)

getTimeFunction(Date d) – JDBC TIME literal based on Date d input

use JdbcDateFormat.TIME.format(Date d)

getTimestampFunction(Date d) - JDBC TIMESTAMP literal based on Date d input

use getEndDayTimestampFunction(Date d)

getStartDayTimestampFunction(Date d) – JDBC TIMESTAMP literal based on date input, with time component set at
start of day (for start date parameters)

use ModifyTime.STARTDAY.set(Date d)

getEndDayTimestampFunction(Date d) – JDBC TIMESTAMP literal based on date input, with time component set at
end of day (for end date parameters)

use ModifyTime.ENDDAY.set(Date d)
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

6.2 Date Formats


BIRT offers custom date formatting. However, due to localization issues, you are strongly encouraged to
use only Date/Time controls using Short, Medium or Long Date/Time formatting will be used.

All ‘Out of the Box’ Reports will use the date formatting below:
For Dates: Short Date
7/29/12
For Date/Time: General Date
July 29, 2012 4:03:00 PM EDT

When both the date and time need to be displayed in a condensed format – for example, target start,
actual start, target finish etc – two controls will be used. These are:
Short Date + Medium Time.

So, within a Work order report where Actual Start within a column needs to display, the field would show
as 7/26/12 4:12:34 PM and would be created by using 2 controls: Short Date + Medium Time.

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6.3 Linking Result Sets

When you run additional queries in the Fetch method, you usually must link them to the current data row.
You can do this either by directly including the value or by using data set parameters.

From the Fetch query example above:

sqlText = "select description from classstructure where classstructureid=?";


classStrucDataSet.setQuery(sqlText);

// Use value from main query as foreign key in secondary query


classStrucDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(1, maximoDataSet.getString("classstructureid"));

In this example, the parameter is set to the value of a field in a data set. The field is a string so the data set
getString method is used. The getTimestamp method may also be used but the fetch methods that return
primitive data types cannot; instead use the following:

getDoubleObject(String attributeName)
getFloatObject(String attributeName)
getIntegerObject(String attributeName)

The other common situation where you must link result sets is when linking subreports. Subreport queries
are similar to Open method queries in that they are both executed each time a record in the main query is
fetched. The main difference is that subreport queries should have their own data sets. The contents of
the subreport can be contained in an independent child table, which is bound to the secondary data set and
nested in a cell in the parent table.

To link a subreport query to a main query, include the linking fields (foreign keys) in the main query. In the
subreport query, reference the linking fields using the “rows” variable:

sqlText = "select laborcode, craft from labtrans where refwo = '"


+ rows[0][ "wonum"] + "' and siteid = '" + rows[0]["siteid"] + "'";
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

6.4 Hyperlinking

When you specify a report to link to, BIRT validates that the report exists, and reads its parameter
information. Therefore, before you can set the hyperlink properties for a field, you must at least create a
placeholder .rptdesign for the target report, in the correct application folder and with the correct file name.
When initially specifying this, the target report design does not need to be complete. Once the target
report is in place, use the following steps to create the link:

1. Select the Data element in the source report and choose Hyperlink in the Properties window. Select the
ellipse to open the Hyperlink Options dialog. Set the Hyperlink Type to “Drill-through”.

2. Under “Select a target report”, enter the relative path to the linked report. If the report is in the same
folder, just enter the report name. If the report is in a different folder, use the relative path.

An example of this is the delivered PO Details report. Its report design file is located in the PO folder, and it
has a hyperlink on the field Vendor to the Vendor Details report located in the COMPANY folder.
Therefore, the Report Design of its target report would be:
..\COMPANY\vendor_contacts.rptdesign

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3. In the Report Parameters area, add the following parameters:
a. Select the where parameter. In the Values field, enter a where clause that specifies the
relationship between the current row and the linked report.
b. Select the appname parameter. In the Values field, enter params["appname"] if the linked
report is registered to the same application as the calling report. If it is registered to another
application, enter the correct application name, for example “PO”.

For example, to link from PO List to PO Details, enter poprint.rptdesign for the target report, and then
create the following parameters. Include the quotes as shown:

where "poline.ponum='" + row["ponum"] + "' and poline.siteid='" + row["siteid"] + "'"


appname params["appname"]

4. Under “Show target report in”, select “Same Frame”.

Notes on Hyperlinks:
1. If you are hyperlinking to a report, and a data restriction is in place, make sure to qualify the table
(object) name. If it is not qualified, the hyperlinked report may display blank data.

For example, if the report is registered in the SR application

The query should not be: …. pmcomtype is null and status not in ('DRAFT')
Instead, the query should be qualified as: … sr.pmcomtype is null and sr.status not in ('DRAFT')

2. If you design a report to have hyperlinks targeted to the same report, the report output may not change
after drilling though more than once from the initial link.

This occurs as a __requestId internal parameter is used to distinguish each report executed by a user from
the browser. This __requestId parameter value is unique within the user's current session for the report
that is executed.

When hyperlinks are involved, the Report URL for the hyperlink is generated by the report server and does
not contain this internal __requestId parameter. Therefore, this parameter will have a value of null for all
hyperlinks. Typically, if a hyperlink is for a different report, the null value and the combination of the
hyperlinked report name act as a unique key to distinguish the report execution. But, if the hyperlink is for
the same report, then any two such links to the same report will be treated as equal, as the key becomes
the same.

In the Maximo report integration, this unique key is used to get rid of the temporary files created when a
report is run again. (For example, if the same report is run again, then the previous report information is
discarded using the previous key stored in the HTTP session. ) This minimizes the generation of temporary
files for repeated execution of the same report. When this logic is combined with the hyperlinks to the
same report, the temporary files are never deleted, as multiple executions are treated the same, because
the keys are identical. Because of this, the report output does not appear to change.

To resolve the problem, the hyperlink creation has to be forced to generate the __requestId parameter.
This can be accomplished by adding a parameter to the hyperlink.

<structure>
<property name="paramName">__requestid</property>
<expression name="expression">java.lang.System.currentTimeMillis() + (hyperlinkCounter++) </expression>
</structure>
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Note that the expression has to have a unique key that is unique to the current user and the current report.
Since a report can have multiple hyperlinks, be sure to generate links that are unique within the report for
that user's execution. Additionally, the hyperlinkCounter has to be declared in the initialization of the
report script code.

3. In later versions of Maximo 7.5, the process to encrypt hyperlinks in Maximo reports was updated. An
automated process was developed to minimize the modifications required to individual design files.

However, some custom reports may include hyperlinks that are not covered thru this automated process.
(Reference APAR IV63670) Depending on your Maximo version and hot fix, if you have a custom report
where the hyperlink is not working properly, you may need to manually apply the steps as noted below -

If a "where" parameter used in the "drill-through" then add following function to the value.

MXReportScriptContext.encryptWhere(<value>)

where <value> is the value of the parameter.

Manually add the following two parameters to the list of "drill-through" parameters.

<structure>
<property name="paramName">csrftoken</property>
<simple-property-list name="expression">
<value>if (reportContext.getHttpServletRequest()== null ) "null"; else
reportContext.getHttpServletRequest().getParameter("csrftoken")</value>
</simple-property-list>
</structure>
<structure>
<property name="paramName">uisessionid</property>
<simple-property-list name="expression">
<value>if (reportContext.getHttpServletRequest()== null ) "null"; else
reportContext.getHttpServletRequest().getParameter("uisessionid")</value>
</simple-property-list>

4. If a user hyperlinks from one report to another, no additional code is required for localization. The
language code is passed through internal report context and is not passed as part of the hyperlink.
• Whether the report is a regular report or a hyperlink report, the report has to go through a
single servlet that knows about the already logged in user and the user's
locale/languagecode/timezone information. This information is automatically passed to the
report engine or to the scripting code through a framework provided report context.

4. Many out-of-the box reports contain hyperlinks. You may want to review their specific source code for
more examples of how hyperlinks are set. To locate which reports contain hyperlinks, access the Report
Booklet and search the ‘V75 Reports’ tab for hyperlink to find delivered reports with this functionality.

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21497942

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6.5 Populating the Data Set

If you need more than one data set (usually only required when creating subreports), you may wish to
make a copy of the existing data set before starting.

6.6 Closing the Data Set

Any data set that is not fully fetched in a loop must be explicitly closed so cursors do not remain open after
the report is executed. If the data set is not closed, and the same report is continually executed from the
Maximo instance over many days, the report may cause a failure of all reports to not show data.

An example of this is shown below using the Long Description data set as an example. Because only one
row is fetched from this set, this type of fetch is not closed automatically, and therefore, must change to

if(longDescDataSet.fetch()) {
row["longdesc"] = longDescDataSet.getString("ldtext");
}
longDescDataSet.close();

Out of the box reports that contain examples of closing the long description data set include Work Order
Details (woprint.rptdesign) and Purchase Order Details (poprint.rptdesign).

Note: This is an example of running queries in the fetch() method in the ‘Executing Additional Queries’
section below that demonstrate that the data set should be closed.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Executing Additional Queries


Additional queries may be run in both the Open and Fetch methods. Each method can have one or more
additional queries returning one or more fields.

6.7 Queries in the Fetch Method

It is sometimes difficult to provide all data fields for a report with a single SQL statement. You can
populate most of the output columns with the main query, and run additional queries to retrieve the
remaining fields, for example:

if (!maximoDataSet.fetch())
return (false);

// Set output columns from main query


row["assetnum"] = maximoDataSet.getString("assetnum");

// Execute secondary query


classStrucDataSet = MXReportDataSetProvider.create(this.getDataSource().getName(),"class");
classStrucDataSet.open();

sqlText = "select description from classstructure where classstructureid=? ";


classStrucDataSet.setQuery(sqlText);

// Use value from main query as foreign key in secondary query


classStrucDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(1, maximoDataSet.getString("classstructureid"));

if (classStrucDataSet.fetch())
{
// Set output columns from secondary query
row["description"] = classStrucDataSet.getString("description");
}
// Always close the data set
classStrucDataSet.close();

return(true);

Note: queries that are executed multiple time should use setQueryParameterValue() for caching
improvements.

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Dynamically Filtering Data

There are several situations in which you will need to apply a dynamic filter to a report SQL statement.
You may filter report results using Report Parameters, which receive values passed from Maximo. You
may also use dynamic filters to link multiple queries.

6.8 Testing for Null

The COALESCE function is supported on all database types and may be used directly in the query. If you
must use a proprietary null conversion function, the following data set method is provided:

maximoDataSet.getNullValueFunction(String param, String nullVal) – Returns NVL, ISNULL, or


COALESCE depending on the database type. For example:
"select " + maximoDataSet.getNullValueFunction("parent", "wonum")
evaluates to:
select nvl(parent, wonum) - for Oracle
select coalesce(parent, wonum) - for DB2
select isnull(parent, wonum) - for SQL Server:

If nullVal is a string literal, place it in single quotes:


"select" + maximoDataSet.getNullValueFunction("parent", "‘NONE’")

However, be careful with using string literals this way, since they will not be localized.

6.9 Scalar Functions

The method MXReportSqlFormat.getScalarFunction(functionName, variable parameters) returns a JDBC


scalar function based on the function name and a variable list of parameters. This can be used to access
database functions in a database independent manner as suggested in the JDBC specification for
commonly used functions.
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6.10 Enabling Rich Text Formatting


Beginning with the Version 7.5 release, you can input rich text in the long description fields of applications.
This enables you to highlight certain areas of critical information for your users. An example of all the
various types of font features that can be enabled is shown below in the work order tracking application.

This rich text font can be displayed in reports. The delivered reports using long description fields have had
the rich text font enabled. For a full listing of these reports, access the V75 report booklet which can be
accessed via the information in the ‘Reference Materials’ section at the end of this document.

You may have created custom reports which include the long description field. The steps to update these
custom reports to use rich text formatting are shown below.

Note: If you do not update your custom reports using long description fields – and your users input rich
text and then print out the custom report – they will receive illegible text as highlighted by the red arrow
below.

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To enable your custom report to display rich text formatting in the long description field, follow these steps
in the report designer.

A. If the long description field exists in the report, delete it.


B. Next, insert a Dynamic Text field.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

C. The Dynamic Text property has the HTML property set. Add the attribute of the field,
longdesc.

Note: The long description attribute will vary depending on how it is defined in the query.

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After saving and importing the report into the Maximo instance, the long description field in the report will
display the rich text formatting as it was input in the application as shown below.

Note:

1. If you have upgraded to Maximo 7.5, any upgraded long description text will not have the rich tags
enabled for rich text format display. For details on how to apply those tags, reference this article:

http://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21590089
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

7 Parameters

Report parameters are used to filter the report data to meet the user’s individual business needs or
request. Maximo reports can execute against a variety of parameter types depending on how they are
configured. The three options are:
1. Parameterized Reports
2. Application Reports
3. Both Parameterized and Application Reports

Reference: For more details on the functionality of each of these parameters, reference the v7 Report Design
Guide or V75 Report Feature Guide accessible via the Reference Materials at the end of this guide.

This section will focus on Parameterized Reports, and their two corresponding types: Bound and
Unbound.

7.1 Bound Parameters


Bound parameters either
• exist in the main table of the application the report is registered to or
• exist via a maxrelationship that has been set up for the application.

Bound parameters will be included in the where parameter and do not need to be explicitly included in the
report SQL.

An example of a bound parameter is the Security Group parameter in the Security Group report.
Its corresponding entry is shown below from the Report Administration application. Notice its attribute
value. Bound parameters will ALWAYS have the Attribute Name Field Populated – whereas Unbound
Parameters will NEVER have the Attribute Name field Populated.

7.2 Unbound parameters


• do not exist in the main table of the application and

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• are not available through any relationship (defined in maxrelationship) for the main table.
Unbound parameters are not included in the where clause.

An example of an unbound parameter is the User parameter in the Electronic Signature Transaction report.
This parameter is unbound because it does not exist in the main table of the application (CONFIGUR) and
does not exist in one of the maxrelationship to this application. This is shown below. Notice that its
Attribute Name field is blank.
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The Chart below details each of the fields available for parameters in Report Administration (and its
reports.xml file) , and whether or not they should be populated for bound versus unbound parameters.

Bound Unbound
Advantage Can have lookups, and do not need to Flexibility.
be defined in report’s design.
Parameter Name Do not need to be defined in Report’s Must be defined in Report’s design file
design file
Attribute Name ALWAYS Populated NEVER Populated

Lookup Name Can either be populated or not Can only be used for Unbound Dates
(*DateLookup Only)

Operator (>, >=, <, <=) Optional NEVER Populated


Multi-Lookup Enabled? Yes or No Yes or No

Display Sequence Numeric Value Numeric Value

Override Label Any Text Any Text

Default Value Can either be populated or not. Can either be populated or not
*NOTE: Default Values are not *NOTE: Default Values are not enabled for
enabled for localization localization
Required? Yes or No Yes or No

Examples security_group.rptdesign eSig_trans.rptdesign

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7.3 Specifying Bound parameters in the report design
Bound parameters will be added automatically by Maximo to the where parameter, and will be included in
the SQL as follows:

sqlText="select wonum, description from workorder where " + params["where"];

7.4 Specifying Unbound parameters in the report design


Unbound parameters must be manually included in the report SQL. The method that you use to do this
will vary. You should choose the method depending on where the query will be executed and if it will run
multiple times.

7.4.1 Multi-select or single-select unbound parameters


Multi-select or single-select parameters enable users to enter different numbers of values for parameters.
For example, you can enter values like asset1, asset2, asset3 in a multi-select asset parameter.

Multi-select parameters will be passed as a comma-delimited string, may or may not contain = or !=
symbols, and must be converted to the correct syntax using the
MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause() method described previously.

For example, consider status as multi-select and worktype and owner as single select:
var params["where"] = "1=1";
var params["status"]= "=WAPPR, =APPR";
var params["worktype"] = "MINOR";
var params["owner"] = "O'NEAL";
"select wonum, description from workorder where "
params["where"]
+ " and "
MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause("workorder.status", params["status"])
" and " + MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause("workorder.worktype", params["worktype"])
" and " + MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause("workorder.owner", "="+ params["owner"]);

This will result on something similar to:


select wonum, description
from workorder
where 1=1
and ((workorder.status = 'WAPPR') and (workorder. status = 'APPR'))
and (workorder.worktype like '%MINOR%')
and (workorder.owner = 'O''NEAL')

With the createParamWhereClause() you can escape characters as needed, build where clause from
Maximo’s formatted value list and understand the operators (=, !=) provided with the values.

Also, you can use query substitution variables for subdataset queries or nested datasets. Please note
however, that this option is not optimized for parameters as it is unable to deal with operators.

sqlText = "select asset, description from asset where " + params["where"]


+ " and asset.siteid = ? and asset.priority = ? " + " and asset.installdate >= ? ";
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

maximoDataSet.setQuery(sqlText);
maximoDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(1, params["siteid"]);
maximoDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(2, params["priority"]);
maximoDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(3, new java.sql.Date(params["startDate"]));

Finally for unbound date value parameters, you may want to use the MXReportSqlFormat methods that
return JDBC String literals (which are database agnostic) and can be concatenated on the query directly:

+ " and asset.installdate >= +


MXReportSqlFormat.JdbcDateFormat.TIMESTAMP.format(ModifyTime.STARTDAY.set(params["startDat
e"]))

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7.4.2 Parsing Unbound Parameters
Unbound parameters are passed to the report in a comma-delimited string and may contain operators, so
the values must be parsed before including in the report SQL. The following method is used for this:

MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause(String columnName, String paramValue) - Creates a SQL


Where clause based on a comma separated list of values contained in paramValue. The parameter value
can be specified with a prefix operator where the operator can be any one of <= , < , >= , > , != , = . If no
operator is specified, then it assumes that the search is based on operator SQL LIKE. For example:

createParamWhereClause("siteid", "=BEDFORD,=MCLEAN")
evaluates to:
((siteid = 'BEDFORD') or (siteid = 'MCLEAN'))

createParamWhereClause("siteid", "!=BEDFORD,!=MCLEAN,TEXAS")
evaluates to:
((siteid != 'BEDFORD') and (siteid != 'MCLEAN')) or ((siteid like '%TEXAS%'))

If you have unbound parameters that need to be manually included in the SQL (are not included in the
where clause), do not directly include them as follows:

sqlText = "select asset, description from asset where asset.siteid = '" + params["siteid"] + "'"

Instead, pass them through the MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause method:


sqlText = "select asset, description from asset where asset.siteid = " +
MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause("asset.siteid", params["siteid"]);

It is advised to use this method on all parameters – not just multi select ones. Use
MXReportSqlFormat.createParamWhereClause(“<table>.<column>”, “=”+<value>) when the value is
known to be exact. The “=” before the value ensures output as an exact search clause while without it the
clause may be generated using like ‘%<value>%’.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

7.5 Creating Custom Report Parameter Lookups


You may need to create parameters with lookups for your custom reports. Lookups are accessed from
parameters on a report’s request page. In the screenshot below, the report’s request page with five
different parameters is shown below. The lookup for the Site parameter is highlighted.

This section presents a variety of options for you to consider when you need to create custom lookups,
including

Option 1: Using valuelists for parameter lookups with fields that have domains
Option 2: Using existing lookups
Option 3: Modifying existing lookups

73
7.5.1 Option 1 - Using valuelists for parameter lookups with fields that have domains

In this method, parameter lookups will be enabled by using valuelists for fields that have domains.
Domains have a special status because field validation classes are not required if the field has a domain and
the ‘valuelist’ lookup is used. Lookups for fields with domains can nearly always be used for report
parameters.

To illustrate this, a lookup will be created for the Work Order Class parameter on the Version 7.5 Estimated
versus Actual Work Order Cost Report.

1. Sign into Maximo as a user with access to the following Maximo Applications: Report Administration,
Domains, Database Configuration and Application Designer.

2. Access the Report Administration application.

3. Search for the Estimated vs Actual Work Order Cost Report, and open up the Work Order Class
parameter. The attribute name for its parameter is populated – so it is a bound parameter. However,
notice its Lookup Name field is blank.

4. Next, verify that a domain exists for Work Order Class. Go to System Configuration – Platform
Configuration - Domains, and search for WOCLASS under Domains.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Click on its detail to see its synonym domain values as shown below.

5. Now, verify that the WOCLASS domain is associated with the WORKORDER.WOCLASS attribute. To
do this, access System Configuration – Platform Configuration – Database Configuration.
- Search for the Workorder Object.
- Then, search for its attribute WOCLASS. Notice it has a Domain value of WOCLASS.

Notes on Domains:
A. If either the domain, or the attribute’s relationship to the domain did not exist, they would have to be
created. Details on how to do this are described in the ‘Application Developer Guide’

B. For more information on domains, access the ‘System Administration Guide’.

Both of these guides are available at the Information Center below:

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/tivihelp/v3r1/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.itmaxam.doc/welcome.h
tm

75
6. In this step, the attribute’s domain will be added to the report, so lookup values can be enabled from
the parameter.

To do this, go back to the Report Administration application.


- Locate the report, and open up the work order class parameter.
- Enter valuelist in its Lookup Name field

7. Save the change, and recreate the report xml by clicking on the button ‘Generate Request Page’.

8. Click on the Preview Button, and on the request page, a lookup now exists for Status.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

9. Click on the Lookup next to the Work Order Class parameter, and its lookup values display.

77
7.5.2 Option 2 - Using existing lookups

You may be able to use existing Maximo lookups with custom bound report parameters. You can see
which lookups are available by searching thru the lookup on the Lookup Name field in the Report
Administration application.

You may find this to be a trial-and-error process since Maximo's lookup behavior is controlled by field
classes, which are classes that are assigned to the attribute definition in Database Configuration. Many of
the default lookups will not work correctly when applied to report parameters, either because there is no
field class for the bound attribute, or because there is logic in the field class that inappropriately limits the
results of the lookup. In these cases the lookup may return no results, a subset of the expected results, or
may contain Invalid Bindings.

With this method, you simply try out the lookup(s) you identify as possible candidates and evaluate
whether they return the desired results. You can use SQL logging to examine the query used to populate
the lookup to ensure there are no inappropriate filters applied.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

7.5.3 Option 3- Modifying existing lookups


If the lookup attribute does not have the required field class, or the field class is not configured to provide
the expected values, you can produce the desired results by creating a copy of the lookup and specifying a
value for the mboname attribute. This method also has the advantage that you can modify the fields
included in the lookup.

As an example, the person lookup will be modified to use with a parameter bound to the supervisor field in
the Job Plan application.

This existing lookup is shown below within the Job Plan application. Notice that the lookup includes 133
people instead of the full 134 in the person table for the maxdemo database. This is because the field class
for this field restricts the results to only active people.

To modify the existing lookup for reporting, follow the steps below.

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1. Go to System Configuration – Platform Configuration - Application Designer and select Export System
XML from the Select Action menu.

2. Open the file in a text editor. Locate the person lookup by searching for id=person. The first line of this is
shown below.

<table id="person" inputmode="readonly" selectmode="single">

3. Copy the person lookup and scroll to the bottom of the file. Insert some lines before the </systemlib> .

4 Paste the copied person lookup, and then modify the first line to include the mboname attribute, for
example:

<table id="person" inputmode="readonly" selectmode="single" >

Should be updated to

<table id="person_rpt" inputmode="readonly" selectmode="single" mboname="person" >

5. Replace all remaining occurrences of 'id=”person' with 'id=”person_rpt', for example:

<tablebody id="person_lookup_tablebody" filterexpanded="true" filterable="true"


displayrowsperpage="20" >

would become

<tablebody id="person_rpt_lookup_tablebody" filterexpanded="true" filterable="true"


displayrowsperpage="20" >

The new entire entry is shown below.


MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

5. The changes made to the xml file now have to be imported into Version 7.5. To do this, go back to the
Application Designer.

6. Click on the ‘Import Application Definition’ Icon in the toolbar. Browse to the location of the
lookups.xml file that you modified.
Note: the default path of lookups.xml is <V7.5>resources\presentations\system

7. Click OK. When it is completed, a message will display in the toolbar.

81
8. Next, access the Report Administration application. Add a new sample report called Job Plan Test, with
a supervisor parameter.

In the Parameter’s Lookup Name field, click on the lookup. Scroll to find the new person_rpt parameter
lookup that you just added.

8. Select it and the Lookup Name field is populated.

9. Save the record. Generate the report xml for the test report you have just registered.

After the XML has been created, click on Preview. Next to the Supervisor parameter, a lookup now exists.
Click on the Lookup, and the values for Supervisor appear. Notice that the person records are no longer
filtered, and all records appear.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

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Parameter Notes

7.5.4 Number of Parameter Values


The maximum number of User Inputted Report parameters that are enabled for reports is 23. These
include 15 Non-Date Time Parameters, and 8 Date-Time parameters. If more than the 15 Non-Date and 8
Date-Time Parameters are entered, invalid bindings will display on the report’s request page.

7.5.5 Utilizing Parameter Values on a Report’s Request Page


Bound and Unbound parameters behave the same way when a user enters values on the Request Page.
This means that if there is a parameter for Status, the following will occur:
User entered parameter value Report Results

=APPR Records where status = APPR

APPR Records where status = WAPPR, APPR

%APPR Records where status = WAPPR, APPR

7.5.6 Boolean Parameter Values


Reports that use boolean values as parameters must follow the guidelines below:

A. The parameter in the report design must be defined as a string type


This is required for localization purposes.

B. If the parameter value is required to be passed to a SQL statement, then the parameter value must be
converted to integer value (1 or 0) as the database has 1 or 0
An API call has been added to the dataset code (getBooleanInteger(string)) that can be used for
this purpose. Here is an example:

var isActiveFlag = params["isactive"];


mySQL = "select isactive from collection where isactive=?";
myDataSet.setQuery(mySQL);
myDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(1, myDataSet.getBooleanInteger(isActiveFlag));

or

mySQL = "select isactive from collection where isactive=?";


myDataSet.setQuery(mySQL);
myDataSet.setQueryParameterValue(1, myDataSet.getBooleanInteger(params["isactive"]));

7.5.7 Optional Parameters


Optional parameters are best handled by direct inclusion. In the following example, site and start date are
optional. If values are specified, they are appended to the where parameter (to preserve the existing
where parameter content). Priority is still mandatory:

var where = params["where"];


if (params["siteid"].value)
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

where = where + " and " + asset.siteid = ‘" + params["siteid"] + “’”;


if (params["startdate"].value)
where = where + " and matusetrans.actualdate >= " +
MXReportSqlFormat.getStartDayTimestampFunction(params["startdate"]);
sqlText = "select asset, description from asset where " + params["where"]
+ " and asset.priority = " + params["priority"];

7.5.8 YORN Lookup


A YORN lookup is available for Yes or No values. This lookup can be used in reports to eliminate the
question of ‘Do I enter Yes or Y or 1?’ in a parameters value. For the Out of the Box Reports, the Security
Group Access report (security_group.rptdesign) has been updated to include the new YORN lookup. This
can be used as an example of how you can apply this lookup.

A condensed version of the reports.xml for this report is below to show how it’s the YORN parameter is set.
To find the complete version, access the file under <V75>\reports\birt\reports\USER
<report name="security_group.rptdesign">
<parameters>
<parameter name="independent">
<attribute name="attributename">INDEPENDENT</attribute>
<attribute name="lookupname">yornlookuplist</attribute>
<attribute name="sequence">2</attribute>
<attribute name="labeloverride">Independent</attribute>
<attribute name="defaultvalue">false</attribute>

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7.5.9 Viewing Parameters
If you drag parameters directly on to the report, you will receive the following errors in the Web Viewer,
although report content will not be affected:
A report document error occurred when loading: Subquery
A report document error occurred when loading: Result Class

This happens because the bindings are created only at the cell level, not at the table level. To ensure the
correct binding, insert Data elements and using the Expression Builder, set the values to the parameters
(choose "Report Parameters" from the Category window).

7.5.10 Requirements for using lookups with Parameters

To enable a parameter lookup, the parameter must have an equivalent attribute. This makes the
parameter bound as noted in the beginning portion of the parameter section.

Additionally, as noted above, unbound parameter values which have no attributes, cannot have a lookup.
Domain lookups can only be used when bound to a field that has the domain assigned to it. The only two
exceptions to this are the datelookup and yornlookuplist which can be associated to unbound parameter
values.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

8 Extending Ad Hoc Reports in BIRT Designer


To reduce report development time, you can utilize the Ad Hoc reporting functionality as an excellent
starting point for your custom report development. The section below details how this can be enabled.

When Ad Hoc Report is created and saved, its resulting design file (.rptdesign) that was created on the fly is
saved to the database. This enables the report to be accessed in the future for immediate run access or
scheduling and emailing.

Additionally, once the report is saved in the database, it can be extended within the Report Designer tool.
By simply exporting the report and opening it in the design tool, you can quickly build upon the report
design by adding calculations, graphs or additional features.

This can become a huge time saving feature for your custom report development because ad hoc reports
can be created with complex sql from multiple tables, filters and application queries. Instead of having the
developers perform the tasks of creating and testing the sql, laying out and defining the fields – you can let
the Maximo framework perform this work. The developer can then extend the ad hoc report as required in
the designer.

To show how this can be accomplished, an example below is given. First, the Ad Hoc report is created and
saved. In this case, the report is created in the Asset Application, and called ‘Asset Specifications and
Work Order Details.

Then, the report is exported for its repository in the database to a local file system. This is done via a
command utility. The command utility uses a property file to enable this. Therefore, you must configure
the reporttools.properties file. It is located at: <V7>\reports\birt\tools

# HostName or IP address of the machine that has MAXIMO application running in an App Server
maximo.report.birt.hostname=localhost

# HTTP port of the application server (the port used to access maximo from browser)
maximo.report.birt.port=9080

# Indicates whether the SSL communication is enabled or not


maximo.report.birt.ssl=false

# User that has access to perform the operation


maximo.report.birt.username=wilson

# Password of the user that has access to perform the operation

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maximo.report.birt.password=wilson

# Output folder used for the export operation


maximo.report.birt.outputfolder=c:/75/reports/birt/export/asset

The output folder highlighted in red details the location of where the exported Ad Hoc Report will be
placed.

To export an Ad Hoc Report, open a command window. Navigate down to the exportcommands path….
<V7>reports\birt\tools

Then, export all of the reports from the asset application by:
exportreports app asset

*Note: You can also export only a single report by using the command:
exportreport report <application> <reportfilename>

However, all command files work with file names – not the report descriptions that users assign during Ad
Hoc Report Creation. So to use this command, you first must know the exact name of the QBR report. To
find this name, access Report Admin, and filter on Created By. Ad Hoc reports are identified where the
Created By field is not null.
Copy the report file name highlighted by the arrow on the left
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

Then execute the command to export a single report

Once you have exported the ad hoc report, open up the Report Designer tool From the menu, click File –
Open File and navigate to the directory where you exported your reports. Select the Ad Hoc Report’s
.rptdesign file, and it displays in the designer.

89
You can immediately see that you have an excellent beginning to extend this report further for any other
customizations you may need. Multiple data sets (subreports) can be already populated, parameters
included and complex sql statements including application queries can already be formed for you.

Note: If the developer chooses to modify the design file, it is recommended that the report file name be
modified to identify it from the original file. If the developer plans on utilizing this report as an Enterprise
Report, he would need to create and/or append the reports.xml and properties file for the new enterprise
report. Additionally, because it is now an enterprise report, it would need to be imported through the
reports import command, or the UI utility in the Report Administration application.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

9 Debugging within the BIRT Report Design tool

You can log information about the report that you are developing within the BIRT Report Design Tool. This
logging is used only when you preview a report within the Report Design Tool.

Reference: For more details on report logging, including how to enable it within the Maximo application,
reference the V7 Report Logging Guide noted at the end of this document.

To do this, access the Report initialize method, and add the following two lines of code:

mxReportScriptContext.setDefaultLogLevel("DEBUG");
mxReportScriptContext.setDefaultLogFile("./temp/wotrack.log");

Five different log levels are supported, which are DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR, FATAL. These levels are
described in more detail below. Since this logging is primarily used for debugging report design issues, it is
recommended that you use the DEBUG level.

Replace the file path location shown here as “c:/temp/wotrack.log" with the file path for your individual
environment.

Note: This logging is not used when executing a report from the Maximo applications. Once your report
runs, you do not need to remove this logging.

91
Additionally, to log custom information, you can use the mxReportScriptContext variable to get a script
logger, which can then be used throughout your report. You can add this to the report initialize method
also as shown here.

scriptLogger = mxReportScriptContext.getReportScriptLogger();
if (scriptLogger.isDebugEnabled())
{
scriptLogger.debug("***My Debug Message ****");
}

Unlike the default logging, these logging messages are written to the Maximo log files when the report is
run from within Maximo. In this case, the default log level specified in the report is ignored. Instead, the
maximo.report.birt log level from Maximo is used.

You can use any of the following methods below from ReportLogger to log information.
boolean isDebugEnabled();
boolean isErrorEnabled();
boolean isFatalEnabled();
boolean isInfoEnabled();
boolean isWarnEnabled();

void debug(Object message);


void info(Object message);
void warn(Object message);
void error(Object message);
void fatal(Object message);
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

9.1 Report Designer best practices for debugging

1. Preview reports by using the Web Viewer - View Report Section within the BIRT report designer. This
displays the closest representation to report execution from within the various Maximo applications.

2. Within the BIRT Report Designer, a ‘Debug Report’ Options is available. It is not recommended that you
use this functionality because it does not properly display information with the Maximo implementation of
reports due to the report script library.

Note: More information on debugging within the Maximo applications is noted in the Report Logging
document referenced at the end of this document.

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10 Miscellaneous Features
10.1 Database Update Functionality
You can add database update functionality to reports. With this functionality, the reports should be able to
execute Database SQL UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE statements against a specific data source. Examples of
out of the box reports that use this functionality include:

Asset Cost Rollup (asset_costrollup_update.rptdesign, located under ASSET subfolder)


Inventory ABC (inventory_abc.rptdesign, located under INVENTOR subfolder)

Here is an example of how this can be used. (Note: all examples are illustrated with SQL UPDATE stament,
but SQL INSERT and DELETE can be used similarly)

1. executing the update within a DataSet (any of the


open/describe/fetch/close/beforeOpen/beforeClose/onFetch/afterOpen/afterClose events)

myTxn = MXReportTxnProvider.create(this.getDataSource().getName());
myStmt = myTxn.createStatement();
myStmt.setQuery("update ... set .... = ....");
myTxn.save();

2. executing the update outside of a DataSet

myTxn = MXReportTxnProvider.create("MAXIMODATASOURCE");
myStmt = myTxn.createStatement();
myStmt.setQuery("update ... set .... = ....");
myTxn.save();

3. executing multiple updates

myTxn = MXReportTxnProvider.create(this.getDataSource().getName());
myStmt1 = myTxn.createStatement();
myStmt1.setQuery("update ... set .... = ....");
myStmt2 = myTxn.createStatement();
myStmt2.setQuery("update ... set .... = ....");
myTxn.save();

4. executing with parameters.

myTxn = MXReportTxnProvider.create(this.getDataSource().getName());
myStmt = myTxn.createStatement();
myStmt.setQuery("update ... set .... = ?, ... = ?");
myStmt.setQueryParameterValue(1, new Integer(0)); // using Integer object as an example. Also note the
parameter index starts form 1
myStmt.setQueryParameterValue(2, "MyValue"); // using String object as an example
myTxn.save();
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

10.2 Registering a Report to Multiple Applications

Some reports can be accessed from multiple applications. To implement this in your custom environment,
do not make copies of the design files in each application. Instead store the report in the primary
application report folder, and register it to the other applications by including it in the reports.xml for each
applicaiton. The detailed steps for this process are noted here.

1. Create the normal import entry in the home application's reports.xml.

2. Copy the entry to the reports.xml file for any other application that uses the report.

3. Change the <filename> entry to reflect the relative path to the actual report location, for example:
<attribute name="filename">../PO/po_act.rptdesign</attribute>

4. Change the other report administration values as appropriate.

5. If there are bound parameters, you may need to modify them since bindings that work in one
application may not work in another.

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10.3 Registering a Report with Quick Toolbar Access
Application reports can be enabled for Quick Toolbar Access. These are reports where no parameters are
specified, and they execute against the application filter and/or query. The types of quick toolbar access
are described and shown in the chart below.

BV: (Browser View) By clicking on this icon in the application’s toolbar, the report will open
immediately in the Report Browser. The user can then print, download or export the report contents.

DP: (Direct Print) When the user clicks on this icon in the application’s toolbar, the report will print to
the user’s default printer. The report will not display in the separate report browser session.

DPA: (Direct Print with Attach Documents) When the user clicks on this icon in the application’s
toolbary, the report and any of its printable attachments, will print to the user’s default printer. The report
will not display in the separate report browser session.

Description Database Field Toolbar Location Sequence

Browser View REPORT.QL REPORT.QLLOC REPORT.TOOLBARSEQUENCE

Direct Print REPORT.DP REPORT.DPLOC REPORT.TOOLBARSEQUENCE

Direct Print with REPORT.PAD REPORT.PADLOC REPORT.TOOLBARSEQUENCE


Attach Documents

An example of a report that has these settings defined can be found in the WOTRACK folder
<report name="wotrack.rptdesign">
<attribute name="filename">wotrack.rptdesign</attribute>
<attribute name="description">Work Order List</attribute>
<attribute name="qlloc">ALL</attribute>
<attribute name="ql">1</attribute>
<attribute name="toolbarsequence">1</attribute>
<attribute name="attacheddoc">0</attribute>
<attribute name="norequestpage">0</attribute>
<attribute name="detail">0</attribute>
<attribute name="reportfolder">WOTRACK</attribute>

<resources>
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

11 Importing Report Designs into the Maximo Database

As noted earlier, the repository for the report design files is the Maximo database. These files are
extracted at run time to meet the individual’s report request.

Administrators and developers may need to import or export report design files from the Maximo database
repository. For example, they may need to export existing or ad hoc report design files from the database
so the design files can be modified in the report design tool. Then, once the updates are made, the
administrator would import the updated design file into the database.

Importing and exporting of the report design files can be done via command utilities. A key component of
these utilities is a properties file called reporttools.properties. This property file contains information on
the application server, the file directory where the reports designs are either coming from or going to, and
username and password information on the user performing the operation. This process is shown in the
diagram below.

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11.1 Set Up: reporttools.properties
Before the importing or exporting processes can occur, the reporttools.properties file must be configured
by following the steps below

Browse to the tool location ...<V75> \reports\birt\tools. Locate and open the reporttools.properties file
shown below. Enter the standard values required for this file.

Within this file, there are entries for the user who has privileges to import and export reports. This user is
defined in the Security Group Application in Maximo per the privileges highlighted below.

You have the option to both input the username and password into the property file, or not.

If you enter the username and password values in the reporttools.properties file, they will be used when
the import or export utility is used. This is shown in the example below.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

# User that has access to perform the operation


maximo.report.birt.username=wilson

# Password of the user that has access to perform the operation


maximo.report.birt.password=wilson

If you do not enter the username and password values in the reporttools.properties file, you will be
prompted to enter them when you execute the import or export utilities per the example below.
# User that has access to perform the operation
#maximo.report.birt.username=abcabc

# Password of the user that has access to perform the operation


#maximo.report.birt.password=abcabc

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11.2 Import Command Utility
Importing brings reports into the database. If the report design is new, a new record will be created in the
database. If the report design exists, the import process will over-write the existing file. After the import is
complete, the updated or new files will be located in the REPORTDESIGN table, which holds the design
files, resource files and library files.

If you have a large number of reports to import, you may want to use the import command utility. The
import process uses the reports.xml file to import the report design files in the database. A reports.xml file
is available for each application that has reports, and is located in the directory <V75>reports\birt\reports.

The reports.xml file references each report design for the individual application. If a report design is not
referenced in the reports.xml file, it will not be imported during the command utility process. Details on
updating the reports.xml file for any new report files you may create can be found in the ‘V75 Report
Developer’s Guide’ referenced at the end of this document.

To use the import utility, follow the steps below.

1. On the Maximo server, open a command prompt window and change to the folder
<V75> \reports\birt\tools.

Then, run any of the following variations of the import utility

A. importreports
Imports all reports, libraries and resource files in the single import action.

B. importreports help
Displays details on the various import commands

C. importreports libraries
Imports all the libraries

D. importreports reports
Imports all the reports

E. importreports app [appname]


Imports all reports for a specified application.
This command is useful if you only want to import reports for a single application. For example:
importreports app CONFIGUR will import all the reports in the CONFIGURATION application. These are
the reports found in the directory below:
<V75> \reports\birt\reports\CONFIGUR
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

4. After the import is complete, sign into your Maximo instance as the administrator. Go to the Report
Administration application, and generate the XML for the reports. This completes the process for
importing new or updated design files.

Additionally, you can view that the import occurred by looking at the ‘Last Import Date’ field for an
individual report record. This displays the date/time of the last import.

Note: Details on importing a report thru the Report Administration application are provided in the V75
Report Feature guide referenced at the end of this document.
11.2.1

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11.3 Export Command Utility
You may want to export report design files for a report developer to modify, or you may to extend an Ad
Hoc or Query Based (QBR) report. For example, a user asks that an Ad Hoc report he created be extended
to include a bar chart to the report. To save the developer time, the Ad Hoc report can be exported, and
opened in the BIRT Designer. The developer can add the bar chart, and then import the design file back
into the database as an enterprise report.

Exporting of reports is enabled as a utility only.

To enable exporting, go to the server, open a command prompt window and change to the folder <V75>
\reports\birt\tools. Then, any of the commands below are available:

A. exportreports
Exports all libraries and reports.

B. exportreports report
Exports all reports.

C. exportreports library
Exports all libraries.

D. exportreports app [appname]


Exports all reports for the specified application.

E. exportreport report [appname] [reportfilename]


Exports single, specified report for the specified application.

The report will be exported to the location defined by


(1) the reporttools.properties file and
(2) its report folder that it is registered to in the Report Administration application.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

11.3.1 Export Example


The example below will use wotrack.rptdesign to show the exporting functionality. The
reporttools.properties file has been set to use the output location shown below in red:

maximo.report.birt.outputfolder= c:/V75/reports/birt/reports

Additionally, the wotrack.rptdesign is located in the following applications and report folders:

Report Name App Name Report Folder Description


woprint.rptdesign QUICKREP WOTRACK Quick Reporting
woprint.rptdesign CHANGE WOTRACK Change
woprint.rptdesign RELEASE WOTRACK Release
woprint.rptdesign ACTIVITY WOTRACK Activity
woprint.rptdesign WOTRACK WOTRACK Work Order

When the various exports commands are executed, the following will occur:

1. exportreports
Exports all reports to c:/V75/reports/birt/reports and their various subfolders

AND Exports all libraries to c:/V75/reports/birt/libraries

2. exportreports report
Exports all reports to c:/V75/reports/birt/reports and their various subfolders

3. exportreports library
Export all libraries to c:/V75/reports/birt/libraries

4. exportreports app WOTRACK


Exports all reports registered to WOTRACK to c:/V75/reports/birt/reports/WOTRACK

5. exportreport report WOTRACK woprint.rptdesign


Exports woprint.rptdesign to c:/V75/reports/birt/reports/WOTRACK

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11.3.2 Additional Export Details
A. If a report structure is not available in the location where the export is to occur, a file structure will
be created.

B. If a reports.xml is not available in the location where the export is to occur, the reports.xml will be
created.
• This may occur if you create a new custom report design file, and register and import the
report thru the Report Administration application.
• If you do this and you make subsequent changes to the parameters or settings of the
report in the Report Administration application, make sure to export the report design
file so any changes you are made are captured in the new reports.xml file.

C. If a reports.xml file does exist - the export will not overwrite the existing file.
• In this case, a new one will be created using a –filename. Ex: In WOTRACK folder, if
reports.xml exists and a new export occurs, a new reports-wotrack.xml file will be
created.
This new reports-wotrack.xml will take precedence over the reports.xml file during any
future importing actions.

D. Both the import and export command utility tools use HTTP, not RMI, to support application server
security. Only BASIC authentication is supported.

To enable the utilities for use with application server security, you must modify
<V75>\applications\maximo\mboweb\webmodule\WEB-INF\web.xml. Open the file with a text editor
and search for "AppServer security". Then, follow the instructions under the NOTE.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

11.4 Understanding the reports.xml import file


One of the report developer’s responsibilities is to create the reports.xml file. This file is required so the
report design can be properly imported into the Maximo database repository.

The reports.xml includes important information on the report, including its report design file, application,
unique settings for the report (including direct print, sequencing or priority values) and parameter
information.

If the reports.xml contains parameter values with appropriate attributes, then the import tool inserts or
updates the report parameter table (reportlookup) with the information. The attribute names of the
parameters are the columns of the reportlookup table. If the parameter name defined in the reports.xml
for a given report does not exist in the report, it is ignored. Some of the attribute values are defaulted to
what is in the report if they are not specified in the import file.

When specifying a greater than or less than symbol for a parameter operator, you must escape the
symbols as follows:

Symbol Description
&lt; < Less than
&gt; > Greater than
&amp; & Ampersand
&apos; ' Apostrophe
&quot; " Quotation mark

As noted in the report design file structure section at the beginning of this guide, each application folder
under reports\birt\reports will have an import file named reports.xml for the delivered, out of the box
reports.

If you are modifying or creating your own custom reports, it is highly recommended that you create your
own reports.xml file. This will insure that any updates you make are not over-written in future fix pack or
release updates, and also enable you to quickly identify your custom reports. More details on this are in
the section above titled ‘Your Custom Reports and the Report File Structure’.

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Preparing the reports.xml
If you are creating a reports.xml file for your modified or new custom report, you can use any text editor
like word pad or notepad. The work to create the reports.xml file is not done in the report design tool.

You can create a reports.xml file by following the steps below.

1. Copy an existing reports.xml file either from the application your report will reside in – or one that
is very similar to your new report requirements.

2. Rename the copied version to a unique identifier, which could include attaching your company
name at the end of the file, like reports_abc.xml.

3. If you are modifying an existing report, modify the values for the new report file name and any other
attribute changes.

4. If you are adding a new report, either enter new values or modify existing values for the new report
content.

5. Delete all other references to design files that you have not modified. Save.

Notes:
A. For an example of a report using a parameter, reference the Security Group Report
(security_group.rptdesign) located in <V7.5> \reports\birt\reports\SECURITY

B. For an example of reports using the application query and having various toolbar settings enabled,
reference the Job Plan List and Detail reports located in
<V75> \reports\birt\reports\JOBPLAN

C. If you are unsure what Out of the box have which parameter values, access the V75 Report Booklet
referenced at the end of this guide. This contains details on each report’s parameters, along with various
toolbar settings that are enabled for each report.

D. Below please find more details each of the fields that can be used in defining a report in the reports.xml
file. Each setting is not required, and those settings not required are noted in black text.
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

RED = Required Fields that must be used in defining any report


BLACK = Optional Fields.
BLUE = Text defining field value

<reports>
<report name="jobplan_test.rptdesign">
#Complete File Name of Report Design, including .rptdesign extension
<attribute name="filename">jobplan_test.rptdesign</attribute>
#File Name of Report Design, including .rptdesign extension

<attribute name="description">Job Plan Test</attribute>


#Description of Report Design which appears in ‘Run Reports’ Window

<attribute name="ql">0</attribute>
#Is Browser View enabled for Report? Can only be enabled if report does not have parameters.
0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0

<attribute name="dp">0</attribute>
#Is Direct Print enabled for Report? Can only be enabled if report does not have parameters.
0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0

<attribute name=” pad">0</attribute>


#Is Direct Print with Attachments enabled for Report? Can only be enabled if report does not have
parameters. 0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0

<attribute name="toolbarsequence">1</attribute>
#Order of the report in relation to other reports enabled for toolbar access within the application.
Value must be unique within a given application.

<attribute name="qlloc">NONE</attribute>
#Determines what tabs will display BV icon. Options are:
#ALL: Displays Report Icon on all toolbars in the app
#LIST: Only Displays Report Icon on List Tab of app
#MAIN: Displays Report Icon on all toolbars in app, except List tab
#NONE: Default Value. Does not display Report Icon in app.

<attribute name="dploc">NONE</attribute>
#Determines what tabs will display DP icon. Options are:
#ALL: Displays Report Icon on all toolbars in the app
#LIST: Only Displays Report Icon on List Tab of app
#MAIN: Displays Report Icon on all toolbars in app, except List tab
#NONE: Default Value. Does not display Report Icon in app.

<attribute name="padloc">NONE</attribute>
#Determines what tabs will display DPA icon. Options are #ALL: Displays Report Icon on all
toolbars in the app
#LIST: Only Displays Report Icon on List Tab of app
#MAIN: Displays Report Icon on all toolbars in app, except List tab
#NONE: Default Value. Does not display Report Icon in app.

<attribute name="norequestpage">0</attribute>
#Does the report not require a request page? 0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0 - Report does require a
request page. Used only for reports which update database or are only available via hyperlinks.

<attribute name="detail">0</attribute>
#Are limit records enabled for this report? Can only be enabled if report does not have parameters.
0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0.

<attribute name="recordlimit">50</attribute>

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#If limit records are enabled (detail = 1), this field must be defined. It is the maximum # of records
the report can execute against. Value must be > 0.

<attribute name="priority">2</attribute>
#Priority value of report used for Report Queuing. Priority is based on ascending order - the lower
the #, the higher the priority.

<attribute name="usewherewithparam">0</attribute>
#Will the report execute against both current/selected records and user inputted parameters?
0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0. Can only be enabled if report has parameters.

<attribute name="scheduleonly">0</attribute>
#Can the report only be executed via a schedule job request? This means it cannot be executed
immediately. 0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0.

<attribute name="displayorder">1</attribute>
#Order that the report should display in relation to the other reports registered to the application.

<attribute name="reportfolder">JOBPLAN</attribute>
#Location of report source file subfolder in <Version7>\reports\birt\reports

<parameters>
<parameter name="jpnum">
#Name of parameter. If the parameter is unbound, this text must exactly match the
unbound parameter defined in the BIRT Designer (.rptdesign file)

<attribute name="attributename">JPNUM</attribute>
# Either the attribute name from the main table of the app, or the attribute from one of
the app’s Maxrelationships. If this field is populated, the parameter is bound. If the field
is not populated, the parameter is unbound.

<attribute name="lookupname"></attribute>
#Name of lookup. Depending on availability, a bound parameter may or may not have a
lookup. Unbound parameters can only have lookups for date fields.

<attribute name="sequence">1</attribute>
#Order the parameter is displayed on the request page.

<attribute name="labeloverride">Job Plan</attribute>


#Parameter label text that displays on Request Page.

<attribute name="defaultvalue"></attribute>
#Default value displayed in parameter field on request pages. Default values are not
localized.

<attribute name="required">0</attribute>
#Is the parameter required? 0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0.

<attribute name="operator"></attribute>
#Optional operators that can be applied to bound parameters. Values available are >, >=,
<, <=. These can not be applied to unbound parameters.

<attribute name="multilookup">0</attribute>
#Can multiple values be input for a parameter? 0=No/1=Yes. Default is 0.
</parameter>
</parameters>
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

<resources>
<resource>
<reference>joplan_abc.properties</reference>
# The property file used by this report <filename>${libraryfolder}/jobplan-
abc.properties</filename>
#The location of the property file. ${libraryfolder} refers to
<Version75>\reports\birt\libraries
</resource>
</resources>
</report>

</reports>

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12 Customizing Reports Reference Materials

A number of different reporting reference materials are available to you. This section will highlight a few
of those reference materials which specifically focus on customizing reports, and details how you might
best be able to use them. To locate these documents, access this IBM Maximo Wiki Page:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/IBM%20Maximo%20Asset
%20Management/page/Reporting%20Documentation

12.1 Update Reports Utility


Update utilities can be used to automate the process of applying updates to report designs, rather than
manually editing each report. These are known as update utilities, and supplement the existing utilities of
importing and exporting report designs. The update utilities are available for both Enterprise Reports, and
Ad Hoc or QBR Reports.

For the latest information on the Update reports utilities, reference the V7 Report Reference Material
noted here http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/maximo/Report+Reference+Materials

or its shortened url of http://bit.ly/niokIv

12.2 Changing Report Logos


Maximo reports contain two logos. A Tivoli logo is located on the upper left hand side, and an IBM Logo on
the upper right hand side. You may want to update the Maximo reports to use your own corporate logos.

The document with the details on this information can be downloaded here

http://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21304923
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

12.3 Understanding Report Paper Sizes and Page Breaks

This document reviews the components impacting report page sizes and orientation used in the Maximo
reports. It also details how you can customize them to meet your individual business needs.

Additionally, the document reviews page break property definitions. The default page break definitions
have changed throughout the various BIRT releases, so you may need to reset them if you experience
unexpected report display issues during a report upgrade. The document provides detailed instructions on
how to do this.

The document with the details on this information can be downloaded here

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21317577

111
12.4 Modifying OOB Reports

The out-of-the box reports that are supplied to you may not meet your individual business needs. You may
need to add or remove fields to these reports to reflect your unique environment.

This document details how you can modify the out of the box. It uses the Work Order Details Report as an
example. Three examples of modifications are detailed, including
A. Deleting Fields from the Planned Labor Section
B. Deleting Fields from the Actual Labor Section
C. Adding Fields to the Actual Material Section

The document with the details on this information can be downloaded here

http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21438532
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

12.5 Utilizing the Maximo Report Booklet


The Maximo Report booklet details all the reports delivered in the base Maximo Services release. Within
the booklet, is an .xls file which lists each report, and other important information on the application it is
registered to, if it has any parameters, along with information on its graphs, sorting, grouping and what
templates it is used.

If you are required to create a custom report, you may want to review the Maximo Report Booklet to
quickly find out-of-the-box (OOB) reports which have similar functionality. For example, if you wanted to
review the code of a report that contains a pie chart, search within the booklet to quickly find a listing of
reports with pie charts.

Additionally, the booklet contains additional information on some of the OOB reports which could include
unique code in how it was prepared, or additional details on the data it analyzes. These are identified by
having a ‘Yes’ in the column ‘Additional Report Description Details’ of the booklet.

113
You can view this information by accessing the ‘Additional V75 Report Desc’ worksheet, where the long
description details of the report can be viewed.

The document with the details on this information can be downloaded here

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21497942
MaximoV75x_Designer 371_Report Development Guide

REFERENCE MATERIALS
To access additional Maximo Report Reference materials, access this IBM Maximo Wiki Page:

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/IBM%20Maximo%20Asset
%20Management/page/Reporting%20Documentation

This page contains the latest listing of report reference materials, including description, revision levels and
hyperlinks to the documentation

Additional details on Maximo Reporting can be found throughout the Wiki Pages here

https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/IBM%20Maximo%20Asset
%20Management/page/Reporting

115
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